“I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me.

But I can assure you now, very confidently, that it’s going to be all right again.”

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This mesmerizing video montage showing beautiful high-resolution views of Martian landscapes opens with the fortunate foreshadowing of today’s news that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has resumed full operations since being on suspension since August 26. Various computer resets by the orbiter had prompted engineers to go on standby until a full diagnostic could be made.

While the cause of the resets has not been determined, they have installed some protections in the orbiter’s software systems.

“This has been a long stand-down. Now we’re ready to resume our science and relay mission.”

– Dan Johnston, MRO Mission Manager

The MRO is not only a valuable tool for observing Mars in high-resolution but also serves as an important data relay device for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on the surface.

The video above was released by the HiRISE team at the University of Arizona’s Department of Planetary Sciences on December 11.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona