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Challenges of Getting to Mars: Heavy Lifting

April 18, 2005

Getting a spacecraft to Mars is no walk in the park - as launch engineers are well aware. But when the spacecraft in question is among the largest ever sent to the red planet, there are specific challenges that must be overcome. Hear from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team just what it will take to get the mission on its way.

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These color-enhanced views of Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars, were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Deimos has a smooth surface due to a blanket of fragmental rock or regolith, except for the most recent impact craters. It is a dark, reddish object, very similar to Mars' other moon, Phobos.
Martian Moon Deimos in High Resolution
This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
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This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
Erosion Features near the South Pole of Mars
Five images of comet Siding Spring taken within a 35-minute period as it passed near Mars on Oct. 19, 2014, provide information about the size of the comet's nucleus. The images were acquired by th...
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Five images of comet Siding Spring taken within a 35-minute period as it passed near Mars on Oct. 19, 2014, provide information about the size of the comet's nucleus. The images were acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Mars Orbiter Sizes Up Passing Comet
This Oct. 25, 2016, image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the area where the Europe's Schiaparelli test lander struck Mars, with magnified insets of three sites w...
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This Oct. 25, 2016, image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the area where the Europe's Schiaparelli test lander struck Mars, with magnified insets of three sites where spacecraft components hit the ground. It adds detail not seen in earlier imaging of the site.
Closer Look at Schiaparelli Impact Site on Mars
Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
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Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket, like the one pictured, will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida.
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In this image, against a bright blue sky streaked with thin clouds, a Lockheed Martin-built gold and white rocket lifts off its pad at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida. Fire bursts from the bottom of the rocket which is surrounded by four lightning suppression towers, two of which are in view in this picture.
Atlas 5 Rocket
This HiRISE image shows a portion of interior layered deposits (ILD) in Juventae Chasma. Juventae Chasma is a large depression near the equatorial canyon system Valles Marineris.
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This HiRISE image shows a portion of interior layered deposits (ILD) in Juventae Chasma. Juventae Chasma is a large depression near the equatorial canyon system Valles Marineris. The scene is along the top of a mound of layered deposits on the floor of Juventae Chasma. Dunes are seen in the low-lying, darker regions. Very fine layers are also seen (see subimage, approximately 1 km across). Understanding what kinds of materials formed the layers, how they were set in place, and how they have evolved will provide insight into Martian geologic history.
Interior Layered Deposits in Juventae Chasma
This April 6, 2014, image from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was taken as a follow-up to discovery of a possible 2012 impact scar in images from the orbiter's Mars Color ...
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This April 6, 2014, image from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was taken as a follow-up to discovery of a possible 2012 impact scar in images from the orbiter's Mars Color Imager. It reveals two craters within the darkened area (at center of the inscribed rectangle).
Fresh Mars Crater Confirmed Within Impact Scar
This kickoff of a new Mars video series covers Opportunity's 14th anniversary on the Red Planet, Curiosity's spectacular panorama and ice deposits spotted by an orbiter.
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This kickoff of a new Mars video series covers Opportunity's 14th anniversary on the Red Planet, Curiosity's spectacular panorama and ice deposits spotted by an orbiter.
Mars Report: January 2018
This series of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successively zooms into "spider" features -- or channels carved in the surface in radial patterns -- in the south polar region of Mars.
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This series of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successively zooms into "spider" features -- or channels carved in the surface in radial patterns -- in the south polar region of Mars.
Volunteers Help Decide Where to Point Mars Camera
This movie sequence of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring before and after its close pass by Mars in October 2014. False color enhances subtle ...
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Mars-Flyby Comet in False Color
Mars-Flyby Comet in False Color
This HiRISE image shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of f...
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HiRISE image (PSP_001942_2310) shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of fluids and ice at and near the surface. The south-looking (or equator facing) walls of this crater are cut by numerous gullies such as the ones shown in this image's cutout (500 x 600 m or 550 x 650 yards), with well developed alcoves, sinuous channels, and terminal fan deposits. These gullies seem to originate at the same height, suggesting that the carving agent may have emanated from one single layer exposed in the crater's wall. Contrastingly, no gullies are observed in the north-looking (or pole facing) wall of this crater. Terrestrial gullies very similar to the ones shown in this image are produced by surface water. The arrows in the cutout show fissures that may indicate detachment of surficial materials possibly held together by subsurface ice, sliding en masse down the crater's wall. The muted topography of the crater and its surroundings, the relatively shallow floor (300 m or 330 yards), the convex slope of its walls-all are consistent with ice being present under the surface, mixed with rocks and soil. Ice would have acted as a lubricant, facilitating the flow of rocks and soils and hence smoothing landscape's features such as ridges and craters' rims. The concentric and radial fissures in the crater's floor may indicate decrease of volume due to loss of underground ice. Piles of rocks aligned along these fissures and arranged forming polygons are similar to features observed in terrestrial periglacial regions such as Antarctica. Antarctica's features are produced by repeated expansion and contraction of subsurface soil and ice, due to seasonal temperature oscillations. The funnel-shaped depressions visible in the crater's floor could be collapse pits, further evidence of ice decay; alternatively, they could be smoothed-out impact craters.
Signs of Fluids and Ice in Acidalia Planitia
This HiRISE image shows gullies on a south-facing slope of a crater touched with late-Spring carbon dioxide frost. At this time of year, only the south-facing slopes of craters retain their frost, ...
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This HiRISE image shows gullies on a south-facing slope of a crater touched with late-Spring carbon dioxide frost.
MRO sees Frosty Spring Slopes
This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
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This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
Colorful Layers in Ariadnes Colles
This enhanced image shows the inside of a rimless pit about 180 meters (591 feet) in diameter, northwest of the mountain Ascraeus Mons in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
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This enhanced image shows the inside of a rimless pit about 180 meters (591 feet) in diameter, northwest of the mountain Ascraeus Mons in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Sand Ripples Inside a Rimless Martian Pit (Stretched)
This image shows details of the lava covered plains near the equator of Mars. The darker looking area has a rough lava surface with all the shadows giving the region a darker appearance.
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This image shows details of the lava covered plains near the equator of Mars. The darker looking area has a rough lava surface with all the shadows giving the region a darker appearance.
Lava Flow Front in Elysium Planitia
This image acquired on October 12, 2020 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an isolated, elongated mound (about 1 mile wide and 3.75 miles long) rising above the smooth, surrounding plains.
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This image acquired on October 12, 2020 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an isolated, elongated mound (about 1 mile wide and 3.75 miles long) rising above the smooth, surrounding plains.
A Technicolor Mound near Oxia Planum
This image shows an outcrop of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD). The SPLD consist of layers of ice and admixed dust and make up the bulk of the dome-shaped Planum Australe.
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This image shows an outcrop of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD). The SPLD consist of layers of ice and admixed dust and make up the bulk of the dome-shaped Planum Australe. Planum Australe is, in some ways, analogous to the Antarctic ice sheet. Troughs and scarps carved into Planum Australe by erosional processes have exposed SPLD layers within it. In this image, the darkest area at the bottom of the image is the bottom of the scarp. Except for the dark material at the bottom of the slope, much of the changes in brightness in this image are due to the lighting angle, the direction from which the sun is illuminating the slope. Much like ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica and deep sea sediment cores, the icy-dusty layers of the SPLD may have preserved a record of recent Mars climate history. Understanding that record is a complex process and involves, among many other types of analyses, examining the differences and similarities in appearance between each layer and attempting to classify layer types. This image shows nice examples of different layer textures. But what is especially interesting about this image are the faults cutting through the layers. These faults appear as diagonal lines, on either side of which, the layering is offset. Note that the faults are not clean, single lines, but appear in long groups of short lines. What caused these faults is still under investigation, but, among other possibilities, they could be related to an earlier time when temperatures were higher and the ice was flowing at a much faster rate than it is today.
Troughs and Scarps in Planum Australe
This is a small volcano superimposed on the flanks of a larger one of the Cerberus Tholi.
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This is a small volcano superimposed on the flanks of a larger one of the Cerberus Tholi.
Small Floral-Shaped Volcano
This image shows warm-season flows on a north-facing slope in middle southern latitudes of Mars.
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This image shows warm-season flows on a north-facing slope in middle southern latitudes of Mars.
Site of Warm Season Flows in Mars Crater
On Mars the seasonal polar caps are composed of dry ice (carbon dioxide). In the springtime as the sun shines on the ice, it turns from solid to gas and causes erosion of the surface
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On Mars the seasonal polar caps are composed of dry ice (carbon dioxide). In the springtime as the sun shines on the ice, it turns from solid to gas and causes erosion of the surface
Dry Ice Gone Wild
This image, acquired on May 15, 2018, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows relatively bright mounds scattered throughout darker and diverse surfaces in Chryse Planitia.
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This image shows relatively bright mounds, hundreds of meters in size, scattered throughout darker and diverse surfaces in Chryse Planitia. The largest shows a central pit, similar to the collapsed craters in some Earth volcanoes.
Pitted Cones: Possible Methane Sources?
This image, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, shows distinct bands of alternating tone and brightness within the "Murray Formation" on Mars.
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This image shows distinct bands of alternating tone and brightness within the "Murray Formation" on Mars. A black arrow points to those bands, which cut across diagonally in this image.
Bands on the 'Murray Formation'
This HiRISE image shows a mixture of bright and dark units. The bright units have a mineral called sulfate (salty sulfuric acid) that on Earth typically forms in the presence of water as an evapori...
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This HiRISE image shows a mixture of bright and dark units.
Jumbled Terrain in Ius Chasma (3-D)
In this HiRISE image taken within Capri Chasma, TES also detected the same crystalline gray hematite like that found at Meridiani Planum.
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In this HiRISE image taken within Capri Chasma, TES also detected the same crystalline gray hematite like that found at Meridiani Planum.
Hematite in Capri Chasma

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