Скачать или смотреть Mars orbiter NASA's next big mission

(23 Dec 2004)

Pasadena, USA - 21 December 2004

NASA animation
1. Wide shot of Mars rotation.
2. Mid shot animation of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Mars/Animation shot of
Mars Orbiter scanning Martian surface

APTN
December 21, 2004. Pasadena, California
3. Wide shot of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
4. Close shot of Orbiter onboard science instruments.
5. Close shot of Orbiter science instrument.
6. Close shot of Orbiter diagram.
7. On screen animation view/zoom into to close up of martian surface/.
8. Close computer enhanced image of Martian surface.
9. Mid shot of Orbiter project manager James Graf.
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) James Graf, NASA Project Manager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

NASA animation.
11. Wide animation view of Mars rover moving across surface.
12. Close shot of rover moving.
13. Onboard view of Martian surface.
14. Mid shot of rover moving.
15. Close shot of rover extending instrument.
16. Extreme close shot of rover instrument

APTN
December 21, 2004, Pasadena, California
17. SOUNDBITE: (English) James Graf, NASA Project Manager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
18. Close shot of artist's image of Martian surface/tilt up to Mars Orbiter.

SUGGESTED LEAD-IN:

Final assembly is underway for NASA's next major spacecraft bound for Mars.

The US space agency plans to launch its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005 on a five-year mission for a bigger and better view of the Red Planet.

NASA hopes to match the recent success of its two rovers on the Martian surface with a new craft that will orbit Mars in search of water and potential landing sites for future Mars missions.


VOICE-OVER:

NASA is planning an August 2005 launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on a seven-month journey and a planned rendezvous with Mars in March 2006.

The Mars orbiter will be the largest spacecraft NASA has flown to the red planet since the Viking planetary probes of the 1970's.

Packed aboard the orbiter is a sophisticated array of instruments, including what NASA planners say is the most powerful telescopic camera ever flown to another planet.

Orbiter scientists say the camera will provide high-resolution images of the planet's surface, down to a meter in width.

That ability will enable researchers to examine Martian landscape features in great detail, according to orbiter project manager James Graf.

And that capability, says Graf, is critical in NASA's ongoing search for signs of water on Mars, and in the effort to get close-up views of possible landing sites for future missions.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We're really trying to look at finer and finer detail on the surface to try to understand what's really caused the surface to essentially be what it is right now. We want to be able to get to these higher resolutions to look at debris fields and see if it's a liquid that formed it, or was it just gravity flow...causing a flow of material down a hillside."
SUPER CAPTION: James Graf, NASA Project Manager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Graf and other NASA Mars mission planners see the orbiter project as the next logical step beyond the rover robots.

NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers have sent back a wealth of data from the Martian surface, including evidence that water could have existed on an ancient Martian surface.

Graf says while the rover data is detailed and abundant, it only offers scientists a glimpse of a relatively small section of Mars.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: James Graf, NASA Project Manager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter



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