NASA Avoids Major Disaster, Prevents Collision Of Mars Orbiting Maven And Phobos

MAVEN an orbiter, let out by NASA in order to study the upper atmosphere of Mars, was about to collide with the red planet's moon "Phobos". Fortunately, an unscheduled maneuver by NASA ensured the disaster is avoided.

According to NASA, the spacecraft named MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) has been on a mission to orbit Mars for more than two years now. Besides studying the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars, it has also been keeping a record of how the red planet fares with the sun and the solar winds. On Tuesday, a rocket motor burn was initiated in order to up its velocity by 0.4 meters per second (less than per hour), a meager variation strong enough to get it past the Mars moon Phobos by 2.5 minutes to avoid the collision scheduled in a week's time.

MAVEN rotates around Mars in an orbit which enables it to cross other space crafts and Mars moon Phobos during the course of a year quite a few times. When they arrive at the intersection at the same time, there is a possibility for the two to collide. These scenarios are well in advance taken care of by NASA, thanks to the Jet Propulsion Laborator(JPL) in Pasadena, California. The same sounded the alert in this case as well.

According to Mail Online, this is the first time that the MAVEN had to make such an unscheduled shifting in its course. In September 2014, MAVEN took its first flight to the red planet and has since then done its work without a glitch. It follows an elliptical orbit around Mars.

On the other hand, Phobos, the moon, encircles Mars just 6000 miles (9656 km) above the surface. It is the closest compared to any other satellite in the solar system. At this distance, Phobos goes around the red planet thrice in a day. The potato-shaped satellite measures almost 10 by 14 miles by 11 miles (16 by 22.5 by 18 km).

MAVEN's primary investigator "Boulder" is located at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The MAVEN project is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which provided two science instruments for the mission as well.