"But science operations don't commence 'til Nov. 2006"

Yes - launch August, arrive march - Aerobrake till September - instrument checkout, and start scientific obs in November :)

I've not seen or heard of any plans to conduct any scientific or relay obs during aerobraking. It's not unlikely, and infact, I wouldnt be suprised to see them use MRO as an MER relay if for no other reason than an end-to-end checkout of the relay hardware on MRO. The potential relay bandwidth from MRO in an aerobraking orbit is frankly - astonishing. (i.e. 400Mbits in a 60 - 90 minute pass, which at an average downlink speed could be sent to earth from MRO in around 8 minutes)

Doug