NASA’s next Mars probe, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), is scheduled for launch on Wednesday morning. An Atlas V rocket carrying the spacecraft should take off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday just before 8:00 Eastern Time. It will arrive at Mars this coming March.

Once in orbit, the MRO will photograph the planet for suitable landing sites on future missions, and will investigate the history of water with its cameras, spectrometer, radar, and an instrument called the Mars Climate Sounder that will observe the temperature, humidity, and dust content of the Martian atmosphere.

One interesting mission feature that could never have happened in the “bad old days” is that the Atlas first stage uses a engine supplied by Russia. Whoda ever thunk it? My, my, my - how times have changed!

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Eudaimonia