March 10th

On this day - March 10th 2006 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars 

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was designed to conduct reconnaissance on Mars. The MRO was built by Lockheed Martin and the mission was managed the California Institute for Technology. The mission was under the direction of NASA. It was launched August 12th 2005 and got into orbit around Mars on March 10th 2006. When the MRO reached orbit it joined the five other active spacecrafts either on Mars or in orbit at the time the most crafts around Mars. The MRO mission is to survey the planet for future landing sites, monitor the weather and climate and search for liquids. The equipment for sending data back to Earth is also more advanced and the bandwidth supported by the MRO was more than all the other Mars missions combined. A side mission for the MRO was to find the previously lost Mars Polar Lander and Beagle 2. Beagle 2 was found in the beginning of 2015. After the main mission is completed the MRO will aid future probes with communicating with Earth and function as a navigation system for future probes.