RICHARD LEIS JR.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) performed a flawless engine burn today in a successful bid to enter orbit around Mars. The event, known as Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI), is a risky one for robotic visitors to the Red Planet. Now that MRO is safely in orbit, the spacecraft will soon begin several months of aerobraking to reshape the orbit into a circle approximately 300 km above the martian surface. The primary science phase of the mission will begin in the fall after aerobraking has been completed.
 
At the University of Arizona, an audience of students, the public, reporters, and other guests watched live NASA TV coverage of the event. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera is one of the instruments on board MRO and is operated by a team at the University of Arizona. HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen and operations team members were on hand for presentations, narration of the television coverage, and answers to audience questions. [Disclosure: Richard Leis is a HiRISE operations team member.]
 
The risks of any orbital insertion include missing the target altogether or coming in too closely. During MRO MOI, all predicted events occurred on schedule, including the loss of signal from the spacecraft while it passed behind Mars. Reacquisition of the signal from MRO occurred at around 3:15 pm Mountain Standard time, and a few minutes later flight operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, USA confirmed that the spacecraft was in the correct initial orbit around Mars. The audience and HiRISE team applauded and cheered the successful conclusion of each major event.