Talk:Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Update for Timeline - re attitude monitoring/control
Veteran Mars probe looks to the stars for longevity says the primary inhertial sensor (gyroscopes) was switched off a while ago and the backup has been used, and now 2018 they are testing a software upgrade to avoid relying on the inhertial sensors at all. "The primary system was already switched off a few years ago after it clocked up 58,000 hours of service, and NASA says that the backups have now reached 52,000 hours." Also talks about battery ageing and possible changes to the orbit- Rod57 (talk) 12:21, 12 February 2018 (UTC)


 * About 5 years late, but I’ve updated the timeline to include this, and some other stuff mentioned in that article. ARandomName123 (talk)Ping me! 03:45, 6 August 2023 (UTC)

Inconsistency in dates
In the "Mission Objectives" section, the article lists the rovers and landers that MRO helped choose the landing sites for, but there is an inconsistency there. Most of the missions are listed with the years they landed on Mars. Curiosity is listed as 2012, when it landed, instead of when it was launched in 2011. Same thing with Perseverance. InSight launched and landed in the same year, so there's no difference there. But Phoenix is listed as 2007, its launch year, instead of its landing year, 2008. This just confused me, I'm not sure if it's really an issue or not, I just wanted to point it out. 185.163.72.18 (talk) 19:39, 20 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing it out! I've changed the Phoenix lander to match the others, changing the year from the launch year, 2007, to the landing year, 2008. ARandomName123 (talk) 20:21, 20 January 2023 (UTC)

Creation of a Gallery section?
The discoveries and photographs section has a lot of images, especially images of other spacecraft. The articled itself also has a ton of images, some of which, in my opinion, should be moved. Additionally, the MRO produces thousands of images a year, so more recent photos could be added to a new gallery section. Thoughts? ARandomName123 (talk) 17:33, 2 February 2023 (UTC)


 * The orbiter makes tons of discoveries, so the discovery section should be as brief as possible, only 1 picture per discovery listed if that. And the tectonic fractures picture in the timeline seems completely unnecessary. It looks like there is a gallery section, but it only has 2 pictures and they're of the same thing. Maybe a few of the unnecessary pictures in the rest of the article could go there instead, as well as a few more recent photos (if you need those I can supply them, I spend a lot of time looking at the HiWish map) such as pictures of the rovers and any interesting discoveries the orbiter makes. DragonGirlStar (talk) 15:25, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * The discovery section used to be even more cluttered, since it used to include all the images in the gallery section. The gallery section has more than two images, but we should probably remove one of the duplicates. The tectonic fractures picture could be replaced by a variation of the Victoria crater image, where the rover mentioned in source 24 circled. The image in the source is pretty good. If you could supply some interesting recent photos, that would be great, thanks. I'll move some unnecessary pictures to the gallery when I have time. ARandomName123 (talk) 18:05, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * HiRISE views Melas Chasma.jpg
 * [[file:HiRISE picture of Perseverance.jpg|thumb]]
 * HiRISE views InSight and hardware.jpg
 * Here's a few HiRISE pictures, I might get more later if you think I should. The first is of Melas Chasma, the second is of Perseverance (in the center - I forgot to mark that when uploading, but it's kind of obvious so that's fine), and the third is of InSight and its hardware. DragonGirlStar (talk) 20:16, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Could you also add one or two pictures without any spacecraft/rovers? We already have a lot of them. ARandomName123 (talk) 21:08, 5 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Alright, I'll get some when I have more time, I'm kind of busy right now. I just figured the rover pictures are usually what people are more interested in, but you are right that there's a lot. Do you have any regions/styles/formations you think should be in more pictures, or just any interesting one I come across? DragonGirlStar (talk) 16:37, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It's fine, take your time. For the pictures, I guess just choose some interesting ones, or some linked to some recent discoveries. I'm planning to update that section in the future. ARandomName123 (talk) 21:23, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Here's two more, both unnamed craters. I'll get more when I have free time, but I have some good ideas.
 * HiRISE image unnamed crater (1).jpg
 * HiRISE image unnamed crater.jpg
 * DragonGirlStar (talk) 16:52, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
 * 1st one is pretty good. I'll move it into the main article when I have time. ARandomName123 (talk) 16:08, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Here's two more, one of dunes near Mars's north pole, and the other one is something I think the average wikipedia-goer will like: the exact coordinates that the book The Martian is supposed to take place. This page probably gets a lot of sci-fi fans, so I think that would interest them. (first one is the book site, second is the dunes)
 * HiRISE image of The Martian site.jpg
 * DragonGirlStar (talk) 17:15, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * HiRISE picture of dunes.jpg
 * DragonGirlStar (talk) 17:16, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Sure. I think one or two more should be enough. Do you have any ones with like more square porportions and in colour? ARandomName123 (talk) 20:00, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I can find more squarish ones, but the HiWish website doesn't have the images in full color, only partial color. There should be some with full color on the various HiRISE social media accounts. I know they publish a lot of its images in color on Twitter, but I'm not allowed on Twitter, so if you want to check that you probably could. I'll grab some with the square proportions. DragonGirlStar (talk) 13:06, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Sure. I'll also take some from here: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Image Gallery | NASA ARandomName123 (talk) 13:13, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I got some that aren't nearly as long, HiRISE images don't usually come in squares and when they do it's areas that have already been photographed many times so these were hard to find.
 * HiRISE craters on Arsia Mons.jpg
 * HiRISE image layered ice.jpg
 * DragonGirlStar (talk) 17:05, 19 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Ok, thanks. I'll move a few of them in. ARandomName123 (talk) 17:10, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I notice the pictures aren't in the gallery yet - should I add them or are you working on it? DragonGirlStar (talk) 16:44, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Oh shoot. Sorry, I was stressed about exams at around that time, and it completely slipped my mind. Thanks for reminding me. I'll add in the long one with the big crater, the one with the dunes, and the one after that. If you think more photos should be included, feel free to add them in. ARandomName123 (talk) 16:49, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Could you rotate these three photos: File:HiRISE image unnamed crater (1).jpg - Wikimedia Commons, File:HiRISE picture of dunes.jpg - Wikimedia Commons and File:HiRISE craters on Arsia Mons.jpg - Wikimedia Commons?
 * I'll add in the unrotated versions for now, but I'm not familiar with wikimedia commons. Thanks! ARandomName123 (talk) 16:56, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Why do they need to be rotated? DragonGirlStar (talk) 17:20, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * They don't have to be rotated, but I think it'll fit better on the page. Also, do you think we should remove 1 or 2 images from the "Other spacecraft" section? More specifically the second and fourth photos. The gallery section is filling up pretty quickly, and the images mentioned are blurry, and don't add much to the article. ARandomName123 (talk) 17:37, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree, those don't add much to the article or gallery. DragonGirlStar (talk) 17:40, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

More on Mars Climate Sounder
Mars Climate Sounder instrument does not have its own article, so more details would be nice here, eg. mass, how long it collected data, what did we learn from its data ? - Rod57 (talk) 10:16, 26 January 2024 (UTC)


 * If no one else does it first, I'll take a shot at adding those details after the end of February. ARandomName123 (talk)Ping me! 16:45, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
 * @Rod57: ✅ in Special:diff/1232045285. Sorry for the delay! ARandomName123 (talk)Ping me! 17:15, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
 * @ARandomName123, thanks. - Rod57 (talk) 17:48, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

Questions from a kid
Has the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter landed before?

When did it reach Mars?

How long has it been on Mars?

Who made this Orbit? 50.106.91.66 (talk) 13:43, 29 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Hi, all of these questions are probably answered in the article, but since I'm here, I might as well answer them.
 * The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is an orbiter, which means it is designed to orbit around a planet, not land on it.
 * It reached Mars orbit on March 10, 2006, and has been in Mars orbit since then (18 years, 3 months and 19 days).
 * NASA created the MRO, and was responsible to navigating it to the correct orbit.
 * Hope this was helpful, ARandomName123 (talk)Ping me! 15:26, 29 June 2024 (UTC)