June 27, 2012

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com

NASA made some slight adjustments to its Mars Science Laboratorys flight path on Tuesday, ensuring its rover makes an accurate landing to the Martian site.

The one-ton rover is expected to arrive at the Red Planet on August 5, 2012, after venturing through space towards Mars since its November 26, 2011 launch.

The landing will mark the beginning of the rovers two-year prime mission to investigate whether Mars ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

The latest flight path adjustment is the third, and smallest, since its launch. NASA engineers burned the spacecrafts thrusters for just 40 seconds.

Spacecraft data and doppler-effect changes in radio signal from MSL indicate the maneuver was successful, according to NASA.

The maneuver adjusted the rovers location where it will enter Mars atmosphere by about 125 miles, and advances the time of entry by about 70 seconds.

This puts us closer to our entry target, so if any further maneuvers are needed, I expect them to be small, JPLs Tomas Martin-Mur, the missions navigation team chief, said in a statement.

NASA said there could be up to three additional trajectory correction maneuvers during the final eight days of flight.

Read more from the original source:

Curiosity Flight Path Slightly Adjusted By NASA