NASA Flips a Mars Orbiter Upside Down – And Discovers a Hidden World
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has learned to pull off daring 120-degree rolls that give its SHARAD radar ten-times-stronger echoes, exposing hidden ice and geology more than a mile underground. Engineers painstakingly schedule these flips to keep solar arrays powered and antennas linked while juggling five competing instruments. The fresh trick revives a 19-year-old spacecraft, even [...]
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has learned to pull off daring 120-degree rolls that give its SHARAD radar ten-times-stronger echoes, exposing hidden ice and geology more than a mile underground. Engineers painstakingly schedule these flips to keep solar arrays powered and antennas linked while juggling five competing instruments. The fresh trick revives a 19-year-old spacecraft, even [...] What's Your Reaction?
