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2 Mars Missions Set For Arrival, Both Prepare for Orbital Maneuvers

Posted by timothy on from the you-can-collude-but-don't-collide dept.

As reported by the BBC, NASA's Maven Mars orbiter has nearly reached the red planet, and will undergo a 33-minute rocket burn to slow its course. Monday's big manoeuvre on Maven's engines will place the satellite in a high, elliptical, 35-hour orbit around the planet. Confirmation of capture should be received on Earth shortly after 0220 GMT (2220 EDT Sunday; 0320 BST). "We should have a preliminary answer within just a few minutes after the end of the burn," said [principal investigator professor Bruce] Jakosky. In the coming weeks, engineers will then work to bring Maven into a regular 4.5-hour, operational orbit that takes the probe as close as 150km to Mars but also sends it out to 6,200km. India's first mission to Mars faces a critical test as it does a similar maneuver -- firing of a rocket to slow its travel as it approaches Mars orbit.

65 comments

  1. NASA/ESA Astronomy News Sites? by nowsharing · · Score: 2

    What are some of the best astronomy-specific news sites? I know that each individual agency has their own news sites, but would like to find a site that gathers everything in one place.

    1. Re:NASA/ESA Astronomy News Sites? by phrostie · · Score: 5, Informative

      Universe Today

      http://www.universetoday.com/1...

    2. Re:NASA/ESA Astronomy News Sites? by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Planetary Society also has decent in-depth coverage of (usually unmanned) spaceflight.

      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
    3. Re:NASA/ESA Astronomy News Sites? by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      this one has news tailor made for each individual. http://www.astrology.com/your-...

  2. Needs more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    time acceleration!

  3. a collision wouldn't surprise me by raymorris · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    For somw reason, it wouldn't surprise me if these two craft collided, despite being the only two approaching the entire planet. It just seems that any time a government spends a lot of money to do anything, it normally ends with a fail worthy of Monty Python .

    1. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by Tim+the+Gecko · · Score: 4, Informative

      For somw reason, it wouldn't surprise me if these two craft collided, despite being the only two approaching the entire planet. It just seems that any time a government spends a lot of money to do anything, it normally ends with a fail worthy of Monty Python .

      There's a lot of exciting stuff happening right now. The Dawn mission is on its way to get a close look at Ceres in April next year. Rosetta is sending a lander onto a comet (which is about to do the exciting thing for comets - i.e. go near the sun). New Horizons is going to fly past Pluto next July. There are two rovers exploring Mars. Not to mention Cassini, Messenger, etc. You can be negative if you like, but I think these missions are pretty amazing.

    2. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by stevez67 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm having trouble remembering the last time two gov't funded space exploration vehicles collided. Oh wait, you were just trying to appear clever but collided with fail.

    3. Re: a collision wouldn't surprise me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What odds are the Vegas odd-makers giving on a collision above Mars? I hope they don't use GEICO.

    4. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      No, if the two probes fell in love, a jibbering Roman god poked at them with a spear, the whole lot were then swallowed by a cross between a police constable and a space hopper, followed by dramatic music and a cut to a documentary about historical figures knitting, then it would be worthy of Monty Python.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    5. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by dreamchaser · · Score: 2

      While it could happen (technically almost anything can happen in an infinite universe), it is far more likely that the Swedish Women's Volleyball team will burst into your room in the next five seconds and give you death by snu-snu.

    6. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by MindStalker · · Score: 4, Informative

      You have no idea about how big the vastness of space is. The chance of them colliding is like the chance of two bullets being fired in a high arc across New York city, and them colliding. Sure that chance happens once per orbit, but its simply not going to happen especially as they both will eventually establish stable orbits that simply will never cross.

    7. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In what ways do you think Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity are failures?
      Or do you even know what I'm talking about without using google?

    8. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      It just seems that any time a government spends a lot of money to do anything, it normally ends with a fail worthy of Monty Python.

      So, had you had the chance, you'd have volunteered to observe The Gadget exploding from the base of its tower? I mean, it's going to fail anyway, right?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      It was either April 15 or April 16, 2005. (I'm not sure about the exact time of day.)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    10. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      And the more orbiters we'll send to Mars, the more likely it will become. Although obviously, that's only a qualitative statement; it would take a lot of time to reach the dangerous point.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    11. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by AC-x · · Score: 2

      What, this one? An autonomous rendezvous test satellite that bashed into the derelict satellite it was practising with?

      I mean, the whole point of that mission was to get close, tho not quite that close.

    12. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by AC-x · · Score: 2

      It just seems that any time a government spends a lot of money to do anything, it normally ends with a fail worthy of Monty Python

      Lets be fair here, the last thing they did on Mars was place a 1 ton nuclear powered tank on the surface using a rocket powered crane, so they've obviously come along way since that unfortunate units mixup...

    13. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think we should launch a whole bunch of satellites to monitor orbital debris. >_>

    14. Re:a collision wouldn't surprise me by kilodelta · · Score: 1

      Agreed, the robotic missions are doing very well on Mars and on their future landing sites I expect some pretty cool data coming back.

  4. Martian first! by Ecuador · · Score: 1

    First Martian traffic event, woohoo! Granted, it is not a red or even an orange in the google-map traffic scale, but still...

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  5. Peanuts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [At JPL] Mission Control: OK .... Who forgot the fuck'n Peanuts!

    [At JPL] Mission Crew: Everyone stops. Everyone looks around: kinda ... questioning looks. [A long pause.] Then, grad student intern returns from 7-11 (Oh Thank Heaven) with Planters Peanuts. Mission Controllers rise from their seats to give a round of applause and high-fives to the grad student intern.

    [At JPL] Mission Control: JPL Sub-stage mission accomplished. NASA, we are GO for orbital insertion.

  6. Better yet, as reported by JPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://mars.nasa.gov/maven/

    Five press releases in the last six days:
    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1711
    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1710
    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1709
    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1708
    http://mars.nasa.gov/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1707

  7. I always thought it was weird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    That people believe that we really have the ability to send anything to Mars. You would think people would learn after the "Moon landing" video that was produced in a studio. On Planet Earth.

    Besides, these days you can make anything look real with movie CGI, photoshop, and autotune. Tell me you've never heard a song on the radio where you could tell the singer wouldn't sound anywhere near as good without his magic mechanical machines. Tell me you've never seen a digitally altered picture on the internet. Tell me you've never seen a movie that has been altered so that things that aren't there appear to be real.

    And besides all that, what is NASA doing sending shit to Mars anyway? I thought NASA was supposed to be a muslim community outreach program. ???

    1. Re:I always thought it was weird... by speedlaw · · Score: 2

      You are an idiot...of course, you did post AC. If the moon landings were false, the USSR, our main adversary at the time, would have busted us. How would you spoof radio signals from the moon, or in transit ? You can't. First tier nations, as well as motivated radio amateurs, could receive it all... Go find a site to climate deny.

    2. Re:I always thought it was weird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Would it be impossible to send encrypted radio signals "to the moon" or to a nearby satellite, then have the "moon" or the satellite retransmit those radio signals, unencrypted, back to Earth?

      Please tell that is impossible.

    3. Re:I always thought it was weird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in which case the US would have busted the USSR for faking the first manned space-flight with Vostok 1. According to the way-out there conspirators anyhow.

    4. Re:I always thought it was weird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > You would think people would learn after the "Moon landing" video that was produced in a studio. On Planet Earth.

      Boy, what an ignorant fellah are you!

  8. burn has started, yo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ~33 mo' minutes for insertion!

  9. Before we couldn't spoof it, now we can by dbIII · · Score: 1

    How would you spoof radio signals from the moon

    Easy, you just have to send a couple of guys, let's call them Neil and Buzz, to set up equipment to reflect the signal :)
    OK, so it's just to reflect lasers, but that's close enough for a bad joke.

    For an added bonus have one of them so on top of things that he's able to calculate burns for a transfer orbit when the computer is down.

  10. Think of the tinfoil hatters... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...what if they collided, and both missions suddenly failed?

    OK, I'd have to admit that would be kind of hilarious (setting aside the decades of work and hundreds of millions of $$ invested).

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Think of the tinfoil hatters... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Or if one accidentally gets metric unit commands while the other accidentally gets Imperial English unit commands.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Think of the tinfoil hatters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      K'Breel, along with the rest of the Council of Elders, and, for that matter, the entire Martian Air Force, smiles upon you.

      (As a blueworlder who has occasionally been K'Breel's voice, it gives me great pleasure to see him and the Council getting more desperate with every passing year and every consecutive successful Martian mission.)

  11. Should have sent your mom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    your mom takes a lot less time for insertion.

  12. Maven success by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Informative

    The burn was successful and Maven is in orbit. It looks like the engines were under-performing in some way though and they will have to tweak the orbit some as a result.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Maven success by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Under-performing rockets? Must be a Monday on Mars. I know the feeling.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  13. That's the point by raymorris · · Score: 0

    The point went right over your head, didn't it. The odds of that happening are astronomical, literally. Yet, it wouldn't be all that surprising if a government agency still managed to screw it up, against all odds - to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

  14. see also, Monty Python. Killer rabbits unlikely by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Also, you might want to check out Monty Python sometime.
    The feared killer rabbit is a favorite. Encountering a killer rabbit, and being forced to defend yourself with the Holy Hand Grenade, is approximately as likely as said collision. Hence the Monty Python reference. Yet governments do indeed fight "holy wars", presumably with holy hand grenades, because nothing is too ridiculous for a government.

  15. Maven is in orbit by SternisheFan · · Score: 2
    Mars has welcomed a new robotic visitor from Earth.

    After a 10-month journey through deep space, NASA's MAVEN probe arrived in Mars orbit late Sunday (Sept. 21), on a mission to help scientists figure out why the Red Planet changed from a relatively warm and wet place in the ancient past to the cold, arid world it is today.

    MAVEN, whose name is short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, fired its engines in a crucial 30-minute braking burn Sunday night, slowing down enough to be captured by the planet's gravity around 10:24 p.m. EDT (0224 GMT Monday, Sept. 22).

    http://www.space.com/27217-nas...

    1. Re:Maven is in orbit by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      ... why the Red Planet changed from a relatively warm and wet place ... to the cold, arid world it is today.

      If it were Venus it would be easy to explain - menopause.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    2. Re:Maven is in orbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nah, just marriage

  16. Easily the most exciting space week in a while! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Two interplanetary orbital insertions, an ISS crew swap, and an ISS cargo delivery.

    Yes, I'll take that!

  17. Added value? by dorpus · · Score: 1

    Do we need yet more headlines that say "Mars may have supported life one billion years ago"?

    1. Re:Added value? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      We need more headlines that say "NASA Failing At Mission To Reach Out To Muslim Terrorists" because who gives a crap about this space stuff?

      Not President Obama, that's for sure! Teeheehee! ;)

  18. Not all fail. Mars climate orbiter by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Not EVERYTHING the government does us a total failure, of course.
    They do tend to fail in comic ways, and often spectacularly. Mars climate orbiter, anyone? Robin Williams did a great bit about that.

    Do you REALLY want to argue the position that governments aren't prone to ridiculous screwups? You can point to a couple of projects that ended up working. On the other side are thousands of projects and trillions of dollars that all ended in utter fail. The entire Bush II administration- mostly fail. His successor- again mostly fail, as evidenced by his approval ratings in the 30%s.

    1. Re:Not all fail. Mars climate orbiter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you REALLY want to argue the position that Any organization with poor communication and change control aren't prone to ridiculous screwups? You can point to a couple of projects that ended up working. On the other side are thousands of projects and trillions of dollars that all ended in utter fail. The entire Bush II administration- mostly fail. His successor- again mostly fail, as evidenced by his approval ratings in the 30%s.

      There. FTFY.

  19. For those who don't get it, different altitudes by raymorris · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those who don't quite understand that "worthy of Monty Python " implies something ridiculous, so improbable as to be almost beyond imagination, let mw get serious for a moment.

    They will not collide because the only time they will be "near" each other they'll be at very different altitudes from the Martian surface. One will be 10,000 meters above the surface while the other is 33,000 feet above. Veteran scientists who worked on the Mars climate orbiter have confirmed this is plenty of separation between the two.

    1. Re:For those who don't get it, different altitudes by MildlyTangy · · Score: 0

      One will be 10,000 meters above the surface while the other is 33,000 feet above.

      Be very, very careful there. NASA once mixed up normal and American measurement units, with disastrous mission ending results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

    2. Re:For those who don't get it, different altitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the joke was that 10,000 meters is approx 33,000 feet and that nasa have mixed metric and imperial before...
      i could be wrong

    3. Re:For those who don't get it, different altitudes by andydouble07 · · Score: 2

      I want to build a wind turbine in front of this comment and capture green energy from the huge WHOOSH that just happened.

  20. Jebadiah Kerman is on board! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Dont worry, Jeb Kerman is on board so all is well.

    1. Re:Jebadiah Kerman is on board! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly the first thing I thought too!

      Well, that and which engine they were using. A 35-minute burn is probably the ion thruster.

  21. Price difference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is the US probe Maven so much more expensive than Indian Mangalyaan? 650+ million (485project cost+187launch costs) USD vs 74 million USD. How is US going to compete with anyone if everything done here costs nearly 10 times more?

    1. Re:Price difference? by kwrzesien · · Score: 1

      15 days faster! Speed costs you money... (MAVEN launched November 18th, 2013, MOM launched November 5th 2013 and will get there Tuesday EST, two days after MAVEN)

      Also the MAVEN has state-of-the-art science on board - this isn't our first dance with Mars. MOM is more of a test bed to prove ISRO has the launch facilities and technology to send interplanetary probes, now they can vie for more ambitious projects.

  22. Mangalyaan from India clears milestone by neither_geek_nor_ner · · Score: 1

    Report just in that the Indian Mars Orbiter has successfully test-fired its engine and has entered the Martian gravitational sphere of influence: http://www.isro.org/mars/updat... http://indianexpress.com/artic...

  23. get online jobs by CherylsMiller · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    my roomate's aunt makes $88 an hour on the laptop . She has been out of a job for 10 months but last month her payment was $21559 just working on the laptop for a few hours. learn this here now .... http://www.wikiwages.com/

  24. YAWN, more Mars missions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NASA has spent/allocated $5B to Mars alone (Curiosity, Maven, Insight,MSL-2) and claims it has no money for Europa.
    A pathetic, unscientific distribution of scarce funds.

  25. Shit just got real! by webanish · · Score: 1

    News coming in that India's Mangalyaan has successfully test fired it's Liquid Apogee Motor (congratulations) and so a possible collision with MAVEN is very much infinitesimally probable :-) Too bad I can't watch it from my 8 inch dob.

  26. Cost of Mangalyaan = 5.6 mi/$ by webanish · · Score: 1

    423 million miles / $75 million = 5.6 mi / $ = not bad!

    1. Re:Cost of Mangalyaan = 5.6 mi/$ by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Now cheaper than a taxi, but still more expensive than driving your own car to Mars.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
  27. in the dark? by Blain · · Score: 1

    in the dark?

  28. Mars Traffic Control Welcomes You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. Parking orbit to the Left

    1. Re:Mars Traffic Control Welcomes You by kwrzesien · · Score: 2

      The white zone is for loading and unloading only...there is no stopping in the red zone.

  29. No toilets required for this mission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank goodness for that - otherwise, the Indian mission would have never made it.

  30. India's MOM has also made it! by webanish · · Score: 1

    Hot on the heels of MAVEN, India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan (Mars-vehicle), has also successfully been inserted into it's planned orbit after its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) fired as expected. With this India becomes the first Asian nation to successfully send a Mars mission, and the first nation in the world to taste Martian success in its very first attempt. Don't worry, there won't be a collision between the two probes, we drive on opposite lanes... remember!