On 10 August 2005, NASA will be launching the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on a 6+ months journey to Mars. MRO will arrive in March 2006, enter orbit, and begin a 2-year mission to map the red planet. High-resolution cameras will be able to discern objects, such as rocks and rovers and crashed Mars landers, less than three feet across. Someday, NASA plan to send humans to Mars. (For details, see the Vision for Space Exploration.)

This summer, earthlings have seen the planet Mars swell and brighten. Now, amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes can spot polar ice caps and dust storms and strange dark markings. By fall, even the least attentive earthling will be noticing “that bright red thing in the sky.”

October 30th will be the most spectacular day of all: Mars will rise at sunset, hang overhead at midnight. When the astronomer Percival Lowell experienced a similar close encounter in the 19th century he wrote that he saw Mars “blaze forth against the dark background of space with a splendor that outshines Sirius and rivals the giant Jupiter himself.” Until fall, you can watch Mars any clear morning. Look for Mars and the moon to rise in the east around. (Approaching Mars from NASA)

Close Encounters with Mars — (Science@NASA) Read about the last time Mars was so close to Earth.