After two weeks with minimal contact due to the recent Mars solar conjunction, the MAVEN spacecraft has recovered full communications and has resumed nominal science operations. Beginning on August 4, the team spent four days examining the health of the spacecraft and instruments, and downloading the data collected and stored onboard during conjunction.
With the checkout complete and all systems performing nominally, MAVEN has been maneuvered into a lower periapsis (lowest altitude) around 151km (94 miles), where Mars’ atmospheric density is 0.09 kg/km³.
MAVEN will execute today the first maneuver to place the spacecraft into a lower periapsis and begin the 7th deep-dip campaign. For this deep dip, the team is targeting a corridor in Mars’ atmosphere where the density is between 2.0 – 3.5 kg/km³. [More at link]