MARS CLIMATE ORBITER AEROBRAKING (back to mission timeline)

After its nine month journey, the Orbiter is scheduled to reach Mars in September, 1999. As the spacecraft nears Mars, it will stow its solar panels, and awaken systems which, until now, lay dormant. The Orbiter's trajectory will take it over the north pole of Mars. On September 23, when the Orbiter's approach is at its closest point to the planet, it will fire its main engine for 16 minutes. This will slow th spacecraft, just enough to be caught in a long, looping orbit. During the next several months, the orbiter will skim through the Martian atmosphere more than 200 times. This procedure, called aerobraking, uses the drag generated as the Orbiter passes through the atmosphere to slow it down. This will gradually reduce the size of the Orbiter's path around Mars, until small bursts from its engine can put it in its final circular orbit around Mars.