NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) circling the red planet on a mission to provide the most detailed look at the dusty world to date.

Elapsed Time at Mars Days Hours Minutes Seconds

Below is SPACE.com’s archive page for NASA’s MRO mission. The stories are presented in reverse chronological order with the most recent updates at the top. This page was last updated on March 30, 2007.

Martian Video Path to Mars: Click to watch NASA's animation of MRO's seven-month trip to Mars from launch to orbit. Credit: NASA. Set for Mars Recon Get to Know MRO: Top 10 Facts About NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Here’s a handy primer on NASA’s MRO spacecraft, its mission and its road to Mars. NASA's Next Mars Probe Takes Aim at Red Planet CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -– The pieces are coming together for NASA’s next Mars probe, a recon satellite designed to scout out red planet landing sites for future explorers. Hello Mars, Meet 'MR. O': The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter DENVER, Colo. -- Engineers are in test time here at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, builder of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as the countdown ticks down for the probe's summer launch. Zooming In On Mars: The Road to Human Missions Pluto WASHINGTON -- Putting a zoom lens on the Red Planet is the camera-toting task for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Underground Plumbing System Discovered on Mars
A Mars-orbiting spacecraft has spotted a subterranean natural plumbing system that might have ferried water beneath the surface of the red planet in the distant past.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Glitch Disrupts Data Flow to Earth
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is suffering science-reducing glitches, although the spacecraft is nearing a milestone in churning out record-setting levels of data.

Mars Orbiter Photographs Three Old Spacecraft
After circling the red planet for more than eight months, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken images of three spacecraft that the agency had previously sent to the Martian surface.

Mars Orbiter Spies Rover Landing Site
New imagery taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been released, a sweeping gallery of red planet photos – including Endurance crater that NASA’s Opportunity rover explored for ten months.

Mars Global Surveyor Remains Silent, Feared Lost
BOULDER, Colorado – In a high-tech game of celestial hide and seek, a Mars orbiter has tried to image a lost-in-space red planet probe.

NASA Enlists Mars Probe to Search for Missing Craft
NASA on Friday enlisted the help of a space probe orbiting Mars to search for another spacecraft missing around the red planet.

NASA's Newest Red Planet Orbiter to Search for Silent Mars Global Surveyor
DENVER, Colorado – The hunt is on for the still-silent Mars Global Surveyor, the venerable NASA orbiter that failed to phone home earlier this month.

Orbiter to Look for Lost-To-Mars Probes
A super-powerful camera orbiting Mars may help discover the fate of long-lost spacecraft that never phoned home after reaching the red planet.

Mars Probes Continue to Unlock Planet's Mysteries
Scientists and engineers are enjoying success both on the surface of the red planet and in orbit around Mars.

Red Planet Double Team: NASA Orbiter Spies Mars Rover at Victoria Crater
NASA’s newest Mars orbiter has spied the plucky rover Opportunity perched at the rim of the red planet’s massive Victoria Crater as both vehicles explore the fourth planet from the Sun.

'Another New Mars': NASA Orbiter Ready for Red Planet Science
NASA’s latest spacecraft to orbit Mars has already found new clues to the red planet’s changing environment, and the best is yet to come, mission managers said Monday.

Red Planet Double Team: NASA Orbiter Spies Mars Rover at Victoria Crater
NASA’s newest Mars orbiter has spied the plucky rover Opportunity perched at the rim of the red planet’s massive Victoria Crater as both vehicles explore the fourth planet from the Sun.

New Mars Craft Sends Back First Detailed Images New images from a low-altitude Mars satellite are giving scientists some of their most detailed glimpses yet of the surface of the Red planet.

Mars Probes Continue to Unlock Planet's Mysteries
Scientists and engineers are enjoying success both on the surface of the red planet and in orbit around Mars.

NASA Craft Settles Into Mars Orbit PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ The most powerful spacecraft ever sent to Mars has settled into a nearly circular orbit, a move that allows scientists to begin studying the planet in unprecedented detail, NASA said Tuesday.

The Tricky Task of Aerobraking at Mars
DENVER, Colorado—Round and round it goes, and where it ends up is a matter of aerobraking for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA’s newest spacecraft to explore the red planet.

MRO: Delicate Dips into the Martian Atmosphere
NASA’s newest mission to the red planet—the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)—is working well as it shaves off altitude in order to swing into active science-gathering duties later this year.

First Images from Mars Orbiter's High Resolution Camera Wow Researchers
Scientists are delighted with early shakeout shots by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.

First Images from Mars Orbiter's High Resolution Camera Wow Researchers
Scientists are delighted with early shakeout shots by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.

NASA Probe Set for First Dip Through Martian Atmosphere
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will get its first taste of the Martian atmosphere late Tuesday, dipping through the planet’s wispy outer fringe in the first of hundreds of maneuvers to circularize its orbit.

Camera Works: New Mars Orbiter Images 'Fantastic'
NASA’s new red planet probe, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), has relayed spectacular test images using its super-powerful camera leaving mission scientists and engineers more than pleased with the initial imagery.

First Images Beamed Back by Mars Probe
The first images from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were returned to Earth early this morning to the delight of scientists waiting to see how the camera would perform.

New Mars Orbiter Ready for Action
Scientists and engineers are ready to start testing the image-taking skills of the newest spacecraft to swing into orbit around Mars.

Red Planet Arrival: NASA's MRO Spacecraft Enters Mars Orbit
After seven months of interplanetary spaceflight, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) successfully reached the red planet Friday to take an in-depth look at the dusty world.

Orbit Day: Complete Coverage of MRO's Red Planet Arrival
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at the red planet on March 10, 2006 in a flawless approach that capped a near-perfect flight.

NASA Mars Probe on Target for Orbital Arrival
With NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter just hours away from firing its engines to enter orbit around the red planet, scientists on Earth are on pins and needles waiting for the mission-critical event.

NASA's New Mars Orbiter Bears Down on Red Planet
It’s crunch time for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a massive spacecraft bearing down on the red planet for a March 10 arrival after seven months of spaceflight.

Arrival Time Nears For New Mars Probe
NASA is ready to add one more spacecraft to the constellation of orbiters and landers exploring the red planet.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Halfway to Destination
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A NASA spacecraft is halfway toward Mars where it is expected to collect more data on the Red Planet than all previous Martian explorations combined.

Farewell Moon
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) takes a last look at the moon before heading off toward the red planet.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Performs Critical Maneuver
The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), en route to the red planet after an August 12 liftoff, has carried out the first of a series of pre-planned trajectory correction maneuvers.

Pixelated Earth
You may not recognize it, but this green and blue pixelated splotch is Earth. This image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from over 700,000 miles away three days after it launched.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Blasts Off for Red Planet
NASA’s latest robotic mission to further unlock the mysteries of the red planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), successfully blasted off Friday, a day after a software glitch had scrubbed its initial launch.

Taking Aim

Stacked and Ready to Go
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft now sits atop its Atlas V rocket ready for launch. The upcoming flight of the powerful booster is the first launch of an Atlas V for NASA.

Moving Day For Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida – Nobody claims that getting to Mars is easy. But fighting snow on Earth can snarl even the best made plans.

Red Planet Bound: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
DENVER, Colo. -- The next spacecraft destined for Mars is rapidly coming together here on Earth -- an interplanetary probe that carries the most powerful instruments ever sent to the red planet.

Whatever Happened to Mars Polar Lander? U.S. Spy Agencies Might Know
The loss of the Mars Polar Lander became a detective story that pitted photo analysts at a super-secret spy agency and NASA experts about the overall condition of the lost-to-Mars probe. It’s a saga of light and dark pixels, egos, and professional courtesy, and a report that never saw the light of day, until now.

Dream Machine: Quantum Step to Mars Set for 2005
BOULDER, Colorado - Save a lot of room in your Mars picture book. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a you-haven't-seen-anything-yet spacecraft.

Mars Gullies Could Harbor Martian Biology
BOULDER, COLORADO -- Over the decades, a flotilla of Mars spacecraft have relayed back to Earth freeze-frame portraits of a cold, dry, dusty and desolate planet.

Building a Better Spacecraft
WASHINGTON - With the selection of Lockheed Martin to build the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), NASA is one step nearer to getting a closer look at the Red Planet, but according to the project's program manager, Kevin McNeill, the spacecraft's builders face a wide variety of technical challenges.

NASA Picks Lockheed Martin to Build 2005 Mars Craft
WASHINGTON NASA selected today the builder of a Mars orbiter equipped to snap super-close-up pictures of the red planets enigmatic surface.

NASA outlines Mars Missions
The rungs of NASAs ladder to Mars include mainly orbiters and landers, along with a number of other robotic vehicles like rovers, airplanes and balloons thrown in for good measure.

NASA Unveils Plans for 21st Century Mars Campaign
WASHINGTON Sobered by the loss of two missions at Mars last year, NASA officials unveiled on Thursday a scaled-back campaign to explore the Red Planet over the next 15 years.