Friday, August 12 2005 20:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Cape Canaveral (US): NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) blasted off into space today (Aug 12, 2005) atop an Atlas V rocket, bound for a 25-month mission to survey the Red Planet.

The orbiter, which lifted off at 7:43 am (1713 IST), is being sent to step up the search for signs of water on Mars and to help pick sites for possible landings on the planet in the future.

Technical problems with the rocket had been blamed for postponing earlier launch attempts on Wednesday and Thursday.

But NASA said the Atlas V rocket was doing well in the early stages of its mission.

The rocket left three days after the space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth.

"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the next step in our ambitious exploration of Mars," Douglas McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration programme, said earlier.

"We expect to use this spacecraft's eyes in the sky in coming years as our primary tools to identify and evaluate the best places for future missions to land," he added.

Learning about the history of water distribution is also expected to shed light on possible previous Martian life forms.

The MRO will use a spectrometer that can detect minerals linked to the existence of water, a radiometer that analyzes atmospheric dust, water vapour and temperature, and an Italian radar that can look under the ground to detect water.

One of the three cameras on board the MRO has one of the sharpest lenses sent to survey a planet, which will give scientists on Earth a peek at rocks and surface terrain.