KSC-05pd-0568

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Atlas V, known as AN007, shown here is in Lockheed Martin’s Final Assembly Building where it is being prepared for shipping to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Atlas V is the launch vehicle for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The MRO is designed for a series of global mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar, low-altitude Mars orbit. These observations will be unprecedented in terms of the spatial resolution and coverage achieved by the orbiter’s instruments as they observe the atmosphere and surface of Mars while probing its shallow subsurface as part of a “follow the water” strategy. The orbiter is undergoing environmental tests in facilities at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., and is on schedule for a launch window that opens Aug. 10. Launch will be from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.