Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Nearing Objective

[astarte]

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Nearing Objective

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is headed into a perilous phase after a seven-month journey from Earth, aiming to start looping around the Red Planet on March 10, space agency officials said on Friday.

If it manages to reach its planned orbit, a process that will take another seven months, the spacecraft could collect unprecedented data about Earth's next-door planetary neighbor, which could help scientists determine where to land the next Mars rovers and even to make preliminary plans for a human landing site.

edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/02/27/mars.orbiter.reut/index.html

[Owen Watkin]

Very interesting.

[astarte]

Do you think there'll be a colony on Mars within, say, the next twenty years?

[chris]

I hope so.

[Owen Watkin]

I do not think so since we do not even have a base on the moon yet, but I hope that I am wrong.