Traffic Cop Needed for Mars Orbiters

May 6, 2015 – Managing the more than 1,000 satellites around our planet is becoming a colossal headache these days. And that doesn’t include the tens of thousands of discarded objects and debris from launches (see image below).

But who would have thought that we would have the same challenges around Mars?

In January two Mars orbiters came within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of each other. The two were MAVEN and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). With only five satellites circling the planet today one would think there is plenty of room to maneuver but NASA actually issued messages to ISRO  and ESA, the former operating its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and the latter Mars Express. NASA’s other orbiter is the Global Surveyor.

It appears that MAVEN is the potential rogue satellite most likely to intersect with other orbits because its are far more eccentric. So tracking it to provide reliable location to other operators of Martian spacecraft is critical.

Interestingly, when NASA issued a warning on January 3rd that MAVEN and MRO could come within 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) of each other, it turned out to be much closer than that. Which suggests if we continue to send orbiters and surveying satellites to Mars, we will need more sophisticated tracking technology than that which we currently have.

Fortunately we don’t have the same problem on the Martian surface with Opportunity and Curiosity thousands of kilometers apart. So no fender benders for now.

Related articles across the web

• NASA monitors increased Traffic orbiting Mars
• Mars’ Orbiter Traffic Gets Busier with Five Spacecraft