Red Planet Calling: We Have Data

To accommodate a flood of information from a growing fleet of Mars probes, NASA is developing the first interplanetary communications satellite. Set for launch in 2009, the MarsTelecommunicationsOrbiter will become the hub of a network linking the current Mars GlobalSurveyor and the Mars Odyssey, along with Europe’s Mars Express Orbiter, en route to Mars, and the upcoming Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The latter will map swaths of the planet at a three-foot resolution.