NASA nervous as orbiter nears Mars - MRO begins orbit acquisition process FRiday, March 10 (LIVE Thr

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 3/8/06 | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

'Bout time! I was getting tired of the old photos from the Mars Explorer.

They sure put a pile of instruments onboard.
Alone, the camera shots would have been worth it to see.

I'd hate to see Nasa auger this baby in the side of Mars so tell your buddies to don't mess this one up. ;-)

Here's to the start of a clean orbit insertion process tomorrow.

[SunkenCiv]

This the place?

[RightWhale]

It doesn't say 'Live Thread', but it will do as far as I am concerned unless another thread is opened.

[SuziQ]

Red Planet ping!

[SuziQ]

Oops! Meant to ping you!

[Howlin]

I asked the Mods to make this the Live Thread.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006
1800 GMT (1:00 p.m. EST)

After a seven-month voyage from Earth, timers aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are counting down to a make-or-break 27-minute rocket firing this afternoon to slow the craft enough to slip into a looping elliptical orbit around the Red Planet

[RightWhale]

It's the Live Thr. Must have run out of character space--upgrade the COBOL if there are any Y2K programmers available to do it.

[Lunatic Fringe]

If they can succesfully put this thing in orbit, the amount a data it will return is something like 9 times the amount that all other Mars observors combined.

[RightWhale]

This thread was also moved to the top of the sidebar. Good job!

[meanie monster]

thanks for the ping!!!!

[commish]

Hopefully they got this one right. I love some of their terminology, but don't you know there is an announcer out there dreading the day he has to say on air "and we are a go for Uranus insertion"

[RightWhale]

If they can succesfully put this thing in orbit

Success rate is roughly 40% for all Mars ships; they are in good shape at this time--all systems are 'go'.

[Peach]

I hope you can join us on the thread.

[Howlin]

What time is this suppose to take place?

[eleni121]

Phenomenal...please keep us informed.

[RightWhale]

Roughly 3 hours from now.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com


Here is a timeline of Friday's major events (in Earth-received Eastern Time):

10:24 a.m.: Final trajectory correction maneuver if needed

04:07 p.m.: Start spacecraft turn to orbit-insertion orientation

04:19 p.m.: Turn complete

04:24 p.m.: Orbit insertion rocket firing begins

04:45 p.m.: Spacecraft enters Martian shadow; on battery power

04:47 p.m.: Loss of signal as MRO passes behind Mars

04:51 p.m.: End of orbit insertion burn

05:13 p.m.: Spacecraft turns for Earth pointing

05:16 p.m.: Acquisition of signal

---

adjust for your timezone if necessary

[MonroeDNA]

ON the list, please!

Good going, NASA guys!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!