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A US spacecraft has moved closer to Mars to serve as a communications relay to Mars' landers and rovers after a two-month tightening of its orbit on Friday.
According to NASA, the four-year-old spacecraft called Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) was slowed down gradually by aerobics. This process takes advantage of the upper Martian atmosphere to place a small amount of drag on the spacecraft.
"It's like applying the brakes of a car, but instead of brake pads, we used the Mars atmosphere," said Stuart Demcak, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Navigation Team Leader. .
The lowest altitude of the spacecraft from the orbit has been lowered from 151 km to about 132 km above the Martian surface. At this altitude, the atmosphere is dense enough to allow the spacecraft to slow down slightly.
In addition, the highest point in orbit has increased from 6,050 km to approximately 4,570 km, which has improved the availability of MAVEN for support of relay communications with NASA landers and rovers at the surface. Of March. This allowed the MAVEN orbiter to more frequently tour the red planet and thus communicate more frequently with Martian rovers.
Aerobatic plan for MAVEN./Photo from NASA website
Aerobatic plan for MAVEN./Photo from NASA website
The data relay satellite will work with the NASA Mars 2020 rover to be launched next year.
Without relay communication, MAVEN will continue to study the structure and composition of Mars' upper atmosphere.
The MAVEN, launched in November 2013, has completed its two-year mission in space, but its fuel allows it to last until 2030, according to NASA.
(Cover Photo: The Four-Year Probe – The Atmosphere and Evolution of Mars (MAVEN) / NASA Web Site Photo
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