spaceflightnow.com
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006
2024 GMT (3:24 p.m. EST)
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently weighs 4,784 pounds. That is 22 pounds less than it did at launch because of the propellant consumed during trajectory correction maneuvers performed after leaving Earth. But the course was so accurate that navigators saved 60 pounds budgeted to adjust the flight path if needed. Those savings translate into fuel for the spacecraft to perform an extra seven months of science operations at the end of the mission, according to Howard Eisen, MRO flight systems manager.
The 27-minute orbit insertion burn will guzzle up 1,726 pounds of fuel, about two-thirds of the spacecraft's entire propellant supply.
spaceflightnow.com
2052 GMT (3:52 p.m. EST)
The propulsion system has been pressurized as planned. The flight control team was just told they can stand down from their contingency plans.
pressurization complete, pyro fireing complete, just waiting for burn