Probe successfully enters into orbit around Mars
After a journey of 500 million kilometres, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter succeeded in a tricky manoeuvre on Friday and is orbiting the planet, mission controllers said.
The spacecraft is carrying powerful cameras and some of the most sophisticated instruments flown to another planet.
The orbiter is designed to photograph the surface of Mars, looking for evidence of water acting on rocks and checking for potential landing sites for future robotic and perhaps human missions.
The orbiter fired its engines, slowed down and was captured by the planet's gravity to enter into orbit. This after a seven month space trek.
Adding to the suspense, as the spacecraft made its final entry, it curved behind Mars and was incommunicado for 30 minutes, a nail-biting time for the mission team.
"Oh, I am very relieved," project manager Jim Graf said minutes after scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., received the signal. "It was picture perfect."
Mars Exploration Program director Doug McCuishton said by November his scientists should be probing the planet with the best tool they've ever had.
"They're going to be like a bunch of kids with a new microscope, I think," McCuishton said. "I just can't wait to hear all the 'wows' coming from the science community. It'll be quite exciting."
During two previous NASA missions â Mars Observer in 1993 and Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999 â the probes flamed out in the confusion over instructions that were mistakenly relayed in both metric and imperial measurements.
The orbiter mission will cost about $720 million US. It joins three other eyes on the Martian sky. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express are already orbiting the Red Planet.
In 2004, NASA's Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, both found evidence water once flowed on opposite sides of the planet.