NASA’s MAVEN space probe successfully completed the first of five deep-dip maneuvers into the depths of Mars atmosphere. The purpose was to gather measurements closer to the lower limit of the upper layer of the red planet’s atmosphere. The periapsis, which is the lowest altitude point of the orbit, reached by MAVEN was 125 kilometers (78 miles).
The purpose of the space probe MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), which reached Mars orbit on September 21, 2014, is precisely to study the red planet’s atmosphere. It’s much thinner than Earth’s one but is still a complex system. To understand its dynamics and its evolution over time, MAVEN is making continuous measurements and during the month started plunging into its depths.
This type of maneuver is allowing to collect data on all the top layer of Mars atmosphere. Generally, measurements are taken at altitudes between 150 and 6200 km (93 miles and 3,853 miles) but the deep-dip maneuver allows to go even lower. The 25 km of difference in its periapsis seem little, instead it makes a noticeable difference. This is because in that layer the atmosphere’s density changes a lot, so much so that at 125 km altitude it’s over 10 times denser than at 150 km.
The maneuver started on February 10 and ended on February 18. During the first three days the MAVEN spacecraft’s thrusters were used to lower its periapsis. This happened gradually, so that at mission control center they had time to check that everything was going as planned.
In the following days the MAVEN spacecraft completed about 20 orbits around Mars going deep into the atmosphere. Because of the planet’s rotation, the various passages occurred at different longitudes. This allowed to obtain a global coverage in its surveys.
All the MAVEN spacecraft’s instruments were used during the deep-dip. However, when it dropped near its new periapsis, some of them have been turned off. For example, the IUVS (UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph) can’t operate in an atmosphere as dense as at 125 km altitude.
At the end of the maneuver, the MAVEN space probe’s thrusters were used to bring it back to its normal altitudes. Now there are many new data to be analyzed and put together with those already available but this was only the first deep-dip maneuver. Everything went well so the next maneuver should take place as scheduled on April 14, 2015.
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