NASA Press Release
In the absence of MTO, this sounds like good news. What I would like to know is what this means for expected data rates from Mars.

75 gigabits. That is approximately 9.3 gigabytes, isn't it? That's more than a DVD can hold! Hopefully HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD burners are around by the time MRO goes into full swing...

But can it do this from Mars consistently? I am sure it can at opposition (they wouldn't have given it the capability if they couldn't use it), but I wonder about what it can do when it is farther away.

I suppose it depends on how long the comm link was open for - at Mars range I thought that the maximum bandwidth it could achieve was 6Mbit/sec. The data rate could be much faster closer to earth (as it is now) but I don't know if the telecoms system can ramp up the rate significantly beyond 6Mbit/sec.

Data storage on board is 20GBytes - not all that much when you realise that a single HiRISE image can be up to 3.5GBytes. At 6Mbit/sec one image will take about an hour and a half.

The max transmission rate at minimum Earth-Mars range is about 3.5 Mbits/s to the DSN 70m antennas. At maximum range the rate is about 600 Kbits/s. The daily data volume in mapping is between 40 and 90 Gbits (depending on range, length and number of comm passes and which DSN antennas are used.)

See the MRO Launch Press Kit for more details.

I take it this means that they remembered to remove the lens cap and there are no thumb prints on the lens.

Right, but given the number of recent missions with optics problems, this is something to be celebrated!

*crosses fingers that MRO has no outgassing residues near the cameras*

Still cruising...

The team took some star pics and the HiRISE camera seems in excellent shape - no thumb prints found yet...

Ted:

Yeah. Hopefully, they'll have to cut back a bit.

Do you know how much we're all gonna have to spend on hardware?

Bob Shaw

Well - we'll need monitors. Big Monitors. Lots of very big monitors.
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/product...ategory_id=4009

Specifically Eight across, and 25 down.


That - or about 30 Imax screens - which ever fits in your office really.

To repeat what Doug McCutcheon said at the November COMPLEX meeting: he had never seen a space mission go so smoothly post-launch -- the only hardware problem at all was some noise on one of the HiRISE camera's 10 channels, which disappeared after it fully warmed up. They did have some initial trouble getting the kinks out of the new high-speed data link from the DSN to JPL, but had already worked out corrective measures.

New NASA Mars Orbiter Gears Up More Instruments

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_NASA...nstruments.html

Aeroflex Actuators Providing Smooth Motion On MRO Satellite

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Aeroflex..._Satellite.html