[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/spotlight/20050412.html

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will follow clues to where the lost Mars Polar Lander and Beagle 2 might be.

[djellison]

I cant imagine a data-pipeline that would work from MO2k1, MGS or MEX to the MTO, except, perhaps, for UHF forward (which can be done by MEX and MO2k1, but not, I believe, by MGS) to the Orbiter then Orbiter back to earth. Infact, MO2k2 could do 256kbps UHF-> MTO then MTO at >1MBps to earth.

BUT

The orbiters there now are basically designed in terms of instrumentation - to match the downlink ability they have. i.e. You wont find HiRise on MGS because MGS couldnt handle the downlink from it. Sure, another few Gbits/sol might be nice, but not essential

If you consider MGS-MOC's normal imaging - 1.5m/pixel - MRO-HiRise will have 25 pixels on the ground for every one of MOC's pixels.

Using C-Proto, MGS gets 0.5m/pixel downrange, and 1.5m/pixel cross range - and HiRise will have about 8 pixels for every CPROTO pixel..

In colour :0

Or 6km wide in Black and White