Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter

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Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter

The Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter ( MSTO ) was a planned NASA - spacecraft to explore the planet Mars . The start was scheduled for 2011 and 2013 respectively. MSTO appeared on the plans of NASA after the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (planned launch date 2009) was canceled in the summer of 2005 for budget reasons and is supposed to take over part of its tasks.

MSTO was to become a large orbiter the size and cost of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The spacecraft should carry both scientific instruments and a communications payload (acting as a relay between landing probes and Earth). Upon arrival on Mars, there should be a two-year scientific mission followed by an eight-year communication phase in an elliptical orbit. With this, MSTO should replace the MRO, which has been in orbit around Mars since 2006, in the task of data transmission. The MSTO's scientific instruments were primarily intended to be used for research into the Martian atmosphere. Thought was also given to taking along a landing probe. However, the project was criticized for its imprecise definition of the mission goal and stopped.

But the only project for a new Mars satellite supported by the US government is currently MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN). It is noted that an additional pure communications satellite will probably not be necessary due to the advanced instruments.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Executive Summary (English)

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