"The team worked diligently to prepare for
aerobraking and we are enjoying the benefits of those countless hours now" said Nick Sealy, spacecraft
aerobraking phase lead from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado.
Reaching a low Mars orbit needs additional impulsive 1.4 km/s or
aerobraking. Thus, getting a spacecraft to a low Mars orbit with an E-sail would save 1.1 km/s of impulsive [DELTA]v and make aero-braking unnecessary.
Coverage encompasses orbital debris, dynamical systems theory, autonomous
aerobraking, trajectory optimization, formation flying, conjunction assessment, non-earth orbiting missions, the Artemis mission, planetary mission studies, spacecraft guidance, satellite constellations, the Messenger at Mercury, large space structures and tethers, and rendezvous, among other topics.
(16.) "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Concludes
Aerobraking," National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 30 August 2006, http://www.nasa.gov /mission_pages/MRO/news/mrof-20060830.html.
He also added a slight forward stick pressure for
aerobraking until 40 knots below approach speed, when he applied full aft stick.
"The principle of
aerobraking is to increase the surface over mass ratio of an orbital object, to accelerate the fall-out by increasing the drag on the system," Santerre said.
Once the radar mission was complete, the spacecraft was moved into a lower orbit to map the Venusian gravity field and to test
aerobraking techniques.
Surveyor pioneered the routine use of
aerobraking, a practice that entails repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to reshape its orbit from a highly elliptical path into a nearly circular one.
MRO then began its
aerobraking sequence to lower the spacecraft into its final orbit.
March 2006 to November 2006:
Aerobraking, slowing down in the Martian atmosphere and setting into a lower, circular orbit for science data collecting
This maneuver is called "
aerobraking" and gets MGS to its final polar orbit using almost no fuel.
