Posted on 03/08/2006 9:35:55 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA scientists were nervous as an orbiter neared Mars after a seven-month voyage carrying the most expensive equipment ever sent to another planet.
"We have a tremendous amount of anxiety and concern at this particular point in time," said Jim Graf, project manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Observer (MRO).
"At the same time we feel confident, we have a very good spacecraft ... (and an) excellent well trained team," he said in a press conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"We are about 325,000 miles (523,036 kilometers) from Mars. We're traveling at about 6,400 miles (10,300 kilometers) an hour and we are going to double our speed as we get closer to Mars," he said.
The tricky part, he said, will be maneuvering the craft into a Mars orbit. Because of the great distance, it takes 12 minutes for data to reach Earth from the craft -- and another 12 minutes for instructions to be sent back.
"There is no time for the team as a whole to react," he said.
"So we have on board all the programs we need to carry out, and the spacecraft has to do it all on its own."
"Mars is unpredictable," Graf said. The tally of travel to Mars is grim: of the 35 missions to Mars since 1960, 21 have failed.
To achieve Mars orbit, the probe's engines will begin firing at 2125 GMT on Friday for 27 minutes. That should slow the craft enough to allow its capture by Mars' gravity.
About 20 minutes later, the orbiter will disappear behind Mars for 30 minutes before it renews contact with very anxious scientists on Earth.
At first, the probe will be in a highly elliptical orbit 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Mars at the closest point and 44,000 kilometers (27,340 miles) at its apogee.
In late March, NASA engineers will start operations to bring the probe to a round orbit close to Mars so it can begin its 25-month observation mission.
The MRO carries six observation and analysis instruments to search from its outer atmosphere to below the martian surface for signs of water and ice.
'Bout time! I was getting tired of the old photos from the Mars Explorer.
They sure put a pile of instruments onboard.
Alone, the camera shots would have been worth it to see.
I'd hate to see Nasa auger this baby in the side of Mars so tell your buddies to don't mess this one up. ;-)
Here's to the start of a clean orbit insertion process tomorrow.
This the place?
It doesn't say 'Live Thread', but it will do as far as I am concerned unless another thread is opened.
Red Planet ping!
Oops! Meant to ping you!
I asked the Mods to make this the Live Thread.
spaceflightnow.com
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006
1800 GMT (1:00 p.m. EST)
After a seven-month voyage from Earth, timers aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are counting down to a make-or-break 27-minute rocket firing this afternoon to slow the craft enough to slip into a looping elliptical orbit around the Red Planet
It's the Live Thr. Must have run out of character space--upgrade the COBOL if there are any Y2K programmers available to do it.
If they can succesfully put this thing in orbit, the amount a data it will return is something like 9 times the amount that all other Mars observors combined.
This thread was also moved to the top of the sidebar. Good job!
thanks for the ping!!!!
Hopefully they got this one right. I love some of their terminology, but don't you know there is an announcer out there dreading the day he has to say on air "and we are a go for Uranus insertion"
Success rate is roughly 40% for all Mars ships; they are in good shape at this time--all systems are 'go'.
I hope you can join us on the thread.
What time is this suppose to take place?
Phenomenal...please keep us informed.
Roughly 3 hours from now.
spaceflightnow.com
Here is a timeline of Friday's major events (in Earth-received Eastern Time):
10:24 a.m.: Final trajectory correction maneuver if needed
04:07 p.m.: Start spacecraft turn to orbit-insertion orientation
04:19 p.m.: Turn complete
04:24 p.m.: Orbit insertion rocket firing begins
04:45 p.m.: Spacecraft enters Martian shadow; on battery power
04:47 p.m.: Loss of signal as MRO passes behind Mars
04:51 p.m.: End of orbit insertion burn
05:13 p.m.: Spacecraft turns for Earth pointing
05:16 p.m.: Acquisition of signal
ON the list, please!
Good going, NASA guys!
Thanks!
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