Report: NASA cancels Mars telecom orbiter mission
Posted: Fri, Jul 22, 2005, 10:38 AM ET (1438 GMT)
NASA has cancelled plans to build a communications satellite that would orbit Mars and serve as a relay for future missions, a Denver newspaper reported Friday. According to the report in the Rocky Mountain News, NASA decided last week to cancel the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter spacecraft in an effort to cut costs. The $500-million spacecraft was to launch in 2009 and go into orbit around Mars; once there, it would act as a relay for future missions, allowing high-bandwidth communications between Earth and spacecraft on Mars. MTO would also have tested laser communications links that promised to significantly increase the amount of data that could be transmitted to Earth. Lockheed Martin had been in negotiations with NASA for a contract to build the spacecraft. Instead, NASA now plans to use the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for launch next month, as a communications relay once its prime mission is completed.
NASA has cancelled plans to build a communications satellite that would orbit Mars and serve as a relay for future missions, a Denver newspaper reported Friday. According to the report in the Rocky Mountain News, NASA decided last week to cancel the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter spacecraft in an effort to cut costs. The $500-million spacecraft was to launch in 2009 and go into orbit around Mars; once there, it would act as a relay for future missions, allowing high-bandwidth communications between Earth and spacecraft on Mars. MTO would also have tested laser communications links that promised to significantly increase the amount of data that could be transmitted to Earth. Lockheed Martin had been in negotiations with NASA for a contract to build the spacecraft. Instead, NASA now plans to use the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for launch next month, as a communications relay once its prime mission is completed.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, October 19
Greedy black hole feeds via two spiral arms
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy — 12:39 pm ET (1639 GMT) Kymeta Selected As Multi-Orbit SATCOM Provider For U.S. Army’s NGC2 Pilot
Kymeta — 12:37 pm ET (1637 GMT) Solstar Space Signs $15 Million Global Agreement with Momentus
Solstar Space Co. — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) ANT61 Signs LOI with Lumir
Space and Defense — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) TracPlus and OroraTech Launch First-of-Its-Kind Two-Way Data Integration to Accelerate Wildfire Decision-Making
OroraTech — 12:35 pm ET (1635 GMT) |
