On March 10, 2006, On March 10, 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) entered orbit around the Red Planet.
The spacecraft launched on August 12, 2005, travelling to Mars to study the geology and climate of the Red Planet. The main aim of the MRO mission was to probe the atmosphere to a depth of around 0.6 miles (1 kilometer), hunting for traces of water.
To reduce the amount of fuel consumed by the MRO as it looped around Mars, over the next six months, the spacecraft lowered its operating orbit.
As of March 2025, the MRO has been active at Mars for 18 Earth years, 11 months, and 26 days. This makes it the third longest-lived spacecraft to orbit Mars, after NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey and European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft the Mars Express.
The mission has already far exceeded its planned operating time, and NASA hopes that the MRO can continue to deliver data back home until late this decade.
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