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NASA Spacecraft Enters Mars Orbit Successfully

Posted on: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 09:00 CST

NASA spacecraft enters Mars orbit successfully

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of U.S. space agency NASA successfully inserted itself into the Mars orbit Friday afternoon.

The spacecraft maneuvered for about 25 minutes, fired its onboard rockets, slowed its speed relative to the red planet, and then let itself be captured by Martian gravity.

Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, cheered and applauded when they re- acquired the signal of the spacecraft set to explore Mars with the most advanced technology.

They cheered again, relaxed, and congratulated each other minutes later when more signals revealed the spacecraft was healthy and in good shape after the risky maneuver.

"I'm very relieved ...it was perfect," said Jim Graf, project manager at the JPL.

After a seven-month journey, the spacecraft began insert into the Mars Orbit insertion at 1:24 p.m. Pacific time as scheduled. The firing continued as the spacecraft passed behind Mars, and the controllers temporarily lost the spacecraft signal as planned.

This time was the most excruciating period for mission controllers. They must withstand the silence and trust that all is going as planned.

When it was approaching the Mars, the spacecraft was passing under the southern hemisphere at an altitude of about 300 kilometers, traveling at about 3 kilometers per second.

In order to be captured into orbit around Mars, the spacecraft must perform a maneuver to slow down by about 1,000 meters per second.

For most of the burn, the signal was temporarily lost as the orbiter went behind Mars. Mission controllers said the course was highly risky, since two of the last four orbiters NASA sent to Mars did not survive.

In coming months, the orbiter will gradually dip into the upper atmosphere of the red planet in a procedure called "aerobrake." After this November, the 2.1-ton orbiter will become a biggest satellite circling Mars.

Based on discoveries by earlier Mars missions, the spacecraft, the largest and complicated one sent to Mars by NASA in 30 years, is designed to study the Martian surface, atmosphere and potential underground water and ice deposits with six advanced instruments onboard.

It will send home up to 10 times as much data per minute as any previous Mars mission, scientists said. Its discoveries are expected to help choose sites for future human landing on Mars.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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