Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched

摘要

On August 12,NASA launched its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(MRO)on a five-year mission to study the red planet.NASA's chief scientist for Mars exploration,James Garvin,says,"MRO is the gateway to discovering the new Mars and is essential to our understanding of it before the next steps are taken."Those steps include the Mars Science Laboratory and Mars Sample Return missions,which are expected to lead eventually to human exploration.MRO will arrive at Mars on March 10,2006.The orbiter will test new navigation and data-transfer technologies and look for the spectral signature of hydrothermal deposits and minerals that have been bathed in water;it will also seek to identify a future landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory mission in 2009.