NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has completed the first of five deep-dip manoeuvers designed to gather measurements closer to the lower end of the Martian upper atmosphere.
"During normal science mapping, we make measurements between an altitude of about 150 kms and 6,200 kms above the surface," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator at the University of Colorado.
"During the deep-dip campaigns, we lower the lowest altitude in the orbit, known as periapsis, to about 125 km which allows us to take measurements throughout the entire upper atmosphere," he said.
The 125-km altitude difference may not seem like much but it allows scientists to make measurements down to the top of the lower atmosphere.
The first deep dip campaign ran February 10 to February 18. The first three days of this campaign were used to lower the periapsis.
Since the planet rotates under the spacecraft, the 20 orbits allow sampling of different longitudes spaced around the planet, providing close to global coverage.
In being lost to space, gas is removed from the top of the upper atmosphere. But it is the thicker lower atmosphere that controls the climate.
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