NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Lecture Notes

Overview of MRO

MRO is tasked with searching for conditions where life could have begun on Mars.
It sends back more data than all other Mars missions combined.

Marcy Weather Camera
- Captures images from Horizon to Horizon.
- Builds a daily global weather map of Mars.
Context Camera
- Provides high-resolution images.
- Covers about 99% of Mars's surface.

MRO has completed over 60,000 orbits around Mars.
It has revealed details such as:
- Polar avalanches.
- Shifting sand dunes.
- Seasonal flows of sand and potential liquid melt water.

In 2017, MRO focused on the Eridania Basin, one of Mars's oldest features.
- Estimated to have formed around 3.8 billion years ago.
- Was thought to be an ancient sea with more water than 10 times the Great Lakes or three times the Caspian Sea.
MRO discovered a 400-meter thick deposit of minerals indicative of deep-sea hydrothermal environments.
- Suggests Mars had the same ingredients for life as Earth.
- Active environments could have sparked life.

The conditions in the Eridania Basin around 3.7 to 3.8 billion years ago were similar to early Earth, making it a potential site for life.
Hydrothermal vents could have created a conducive environment for life.

Around 3.7 billion years ago, Mars underwent significant climate change:
- The planet got colder, leading to a loss of liquid water.
- Water either froze at the surface or soaked into the ground.
- Eventually, much of the water was transported to the poles, forming large ice caps.
Mars became more volcanically active, resulting in catastrophic flooding:
- Water flowed from the Southern Highlands to a site known as Echus Chasma.
- Created the largest waterfall in the solar system, plunging over cliffs 4 kilometers high.
- Formed a canyon 10 kilometers wide by 100 kilometers long.

Evidence suggests that early Mars had environments similar to Earth that could have supported life, but catastrophic climate changes hindered the prospects for life.