Tag Archives: orbiter

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has sent back some incredible images and data from the Red Planet of the years, and it just hit an important milestone. It has now made 50,000 orbits of Mars since it arrived more than 11 years ago. Lockheed Martin really built this spacecraft to …

As Cassini continues its ring-grazing orbits, diving just past the outside of Saturn’s F ring, the outermost discrete ring of the planet, it is tracking several small objects there. This image of the object F16QA was obtained using Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on Feb. 5, 2017, at a distance of 610,000 …

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter captured these images of Mimas and Epimetheus during a close flyby on January 30, 2017. This image of Saturn’s moon Epimetheus was taken on January 30, 2017 and received on Earth February 1, 2017. The image was taken using the CL1 and GRN filters. Image credit: …

Frozen beneath Utopia Planitia, a large plain on Mars, lies about as much water as what’s in Lake Superior, according to an international team of planetary researchers. This image is an artist’s concept of a view looking down on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft is pictured using its SHARAD …

On Dec. 4, 2016 at 8:09 a.m. EST (5:09 a.m. PST), NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its first close dive past the outer edges of Saturn’s rings. This graphic shows the closest approaches of Cassini’s final two orbital phases. Ring-grazing orbits are shown in gray (at left); Grand Finale orbits are …

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has sent back its first color image of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars. Color composite of Phobos taken with TGO’s CaSSIS camera on November 26, 2016. The observation was made at a distance of 4,785 miles (7,700 …