MAVEN has successfully completed the 9th deep dip campaign of the mission.
Two walk-out maneuvers were performed to raise the periapsis (closest approach to Mars) of the spacecraft by 33 km:
● The first maneuver was performed on May 1. It required a ∆V of 2.4 m/sec., which raised MAVEN’s periapsis by 14.7 km and placed the spacecraft into a corridor where Mars’ atmospheric density is ~0.55 kg/km³.
● The second maneuver was performed on May 2. It required a ∆V of 3.0 m.sec., which raised MAVEN’s periapsis by another 18.4 km and placed the spacecraft into the middle of the nominal science-mapping corridor where Mars’ atmospheric density is between 0.05 kg/km³ and 0.15 kg/km³.
Currently (as of Thursday, May 3, 2018), MAVEN’s estimated mean periapsis density is 0.10 kg/km³ at a mean periapsis altitude of 158.5 km. MAVEN’s orbital period is 4 hours and 23 minutes. [More at link]