MAVEN Status update: October 31, 2014

October was a very busy time for the team. We performed a total of three engine burns this month in order to get MAVEN down to its planned science orbit with an orbital period of 4.6 hours and a periapsis (closest distance from the Mars surface) of 175 kilometers. The periapsis altitude is a bit higher than the original plan of 150 kilometers only because we’ve dialed in the MAVEN orbit to support the science team’s atmospheric density requirement versus a specific altitude….. [More at link]