MAVEN is scheduled to exit Mars solar conjunction—the period when Earth and Mars are obscured from each other by the sun—on August 5, 2017.
As solar conjunction comes to a close, the MAVEN team is preparing to return to normal science operations in advance of MAVEN’s 7th deep dip campaign Aug. 15 – 22.
For this deep dip, the periapsis altitude of the MAVEN spacecraft will be reduced from the current 161 km to about 125 km (78 miles) above the #\Martian surface. The deep dip campaigns offer an opportunity to sample the lower, well-mixed, and denser layers of Mars’ upper atmosphere. MAVEN completed deep dip campaign #6 just over one year ago, on August 4, 2016. [More at link]