Mars Telecommunications Orbiter

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Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
Mars Telecommunication Orbiter
Organization: NASA
Major Contractors: JPL
Mission Type: Planetary Science, Mars Exploration
Satellite of: Mars
Launch: Cancelled
Launch Vehicle: Possibly an Atlas V(401) or a Delta-4M.
End of Mission: Cancelled
Planned Mission Duration: 1 year cruise plus 10 years on orbit
Mass: 1,800 kilograms
NSSDC ID: Undetermined
Webpage: JPL's MTO web page
Orbital elements
Semimajor Axis: 5,000 kilometers
Eccentricity: Unknown
Inclination: Unknown
Orbital Period: Unknown
Aphelion: Unknown
Perihelion: Unknown
Orbits: Unknown
Planned Instruments
Electra : Relay science data from future Mars missions
Optical Communications Payload: Demonstrate laser communications to Earth
Narrow Angle Camera: Support canister detection
Orbiting Sample Demonstration Canister: Technology demonstration

NASA planned to establish a so-called "interplanetary Internet" with the launch of the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in 2009. The spacecraft would have arrived in a high orbit above Mars in 2010 and then be used to relay data packets to Earth from a variety of Mars landers and orbiters for as long as ten years, at an extremely high data rate. Such a dedicated communications satellite was thought to be necessary due to the vast quantity of scientific information to be sent to Earth by such landers as the Mars Science Laboratory. However, on July 21, 2005, it was announced that MTO had been cancelled due to the need to support other short-term goals, including a Hubble servicing mission, Mars Exploration Rover extended mission operations, ensuring that the Mars Science Laboratory would fly in 2009, and to save an Earth science mission called Glory from cancellation.[1]


 This Mars spacecraft- or satellite-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 v • d • e Failed & Cancelled missions to the Planet Mars
Failed: Marsnik program | Sputnik 22 | Mars 1 | Sputnik 24 | Mariner 3 | Zond 2 | Mars 1969A | Mars 1969B | Mariner 8 | Cosmos 419 | Mars 6 | Mars 7 | Phobos 1 | Mars Observer | Mars 96 | Nozomi | Mars Climate Orbiter | Mars Polar Lander | Deep Space 2 | Beagle 2
Cancelled: Voyager | Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander | NetLander | Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
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