MAVEN: Deep dips into atmosphere to begin soon

MAVEN will begin first ‘deep dip” campaign on February 10th. MAVEN’s primary mission includes five 5-day “deep-dip” campaigns, in which the periapsis (lowest point in the orbit) is lowered from about 93 miles (150 km) to about 77 miles (125 km). The first “deep dip” maneuver will begin on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, with a two-day “walk down” into the target density corridor of 2.0 to 3.5 kg/km³. The density of Mars’ atmosphere in the current science-mapping orbit is about 0.12 kg/km³… [More at link]