The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully completed its planned maneuver on Wednesday, July 29. The said action is said to be a crucial intervention to prepare itself for receiving the InSight Mars lander mission on Sept. 18, 2016. The maneuver started at 6:21:31 a.m. PDT and lasted for 75 seconds.
The original plan is for the maneuver to take place for 77 seconds through the firing of six intermediate-size thrusters to adjust the orbit timing of the said spacecraft. The desired position for the MRO, which has already been achieved, is said to be the best location to receive radio transmissions from the InSight as it passes through the atmosphere of Mars and finally lands. The six thrusters, used to correct the trajectory of the spacecraft from Earth to Mars, are said to have the ability to generate five lbs. of thrust.
"Without making this orbit change maneuver, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would be unable to hear from InSight during the landing, but this will put us in the right place at the right time," says Dan Johnston, MRO Project Manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The MRO is also tasked to record the transmissions from the InSight so that experts from the Earth can play them back and have a record of the most crucial events from the arrival of newcomer spacecraft to Mars. The said recording task is not the first time for MRO, as it also recorded the landings of NASA's Phoenix Mars lander and NASA's Curiosity Mars in 2008 and 2012 respectively.
After InSight lands successfully, it will start to analyze the deep interior of the Martian planet and look for data that can help identify the details of formation and evolution of all rocky planets such as the Earth.
Meanwhile, the MRO will continue to study Mars while awaiting for the arrival of InSight. The tasks of the MRO include obtaining atmospheric profiles, subsurface information and high-resolution images and spectral data. MRO will also continue to look for possible landing sites and communicate with other rovers in Mars. According to NASA, MRO has already been able to provide multiple information about Mars more than any other space missions combined.
In Nov. 15, 2006, MRO was able to pull off a maneuver that fired the thrusters for 76 seconds. This is said to be the last maneuver made by the orbiter that is larger than the latest one.
