Phil Plait reminds us that in about three hours, around 10:30PST, the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter will fire a 27 minute retro burn and enter a highly elliptical orbit of Mars. Over the next several months, it will dip into the Martian atmosphere, aerobraking to reduce speed and circularize its orbit. Then, serious science and imaging can commence!
Ah, the relentless march of science.
[tags]Mars,NASA,Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter,Science[/tags]
Addendum: I copied Phil’s original message which contained an error: the time was actually 1:24 PST. As I am typing this, the burn is over half completed, all systems are nominal.
Addendum2: The spacecraft completed over sixty percent of its burn, but telemetry is currently “LOS” as the spacecraft is occulted by Mars. The burn will continue, and the spacecraft should emerge from behind the planet in about a half an hour.
Addendum3: MRO has emerged from behind the planet, and is now in Mars orbit. Â Congratulations!