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MAVEN Status Update: January 9, 2014

MAVEN was launched into a Hohmann Transfer Orbit with periapsis at Earth’s orbit and apoapsis at the distance of the orbit of Mars. The spacecraft will travel more than 180 degrees around the Sun in its transfer orbit, which requires 10 months to set the stage for Mars Orbit Insertion in September 2014.
MAVEN was launched into a Hohmann Transfer Orbit with periapsis at Earth’s orbit and apoapsis at the distance of the orbit of Mars. The spacecraft will travel more than 180 degrees around the Sun in its transfer orbit, which requires 10 months to set the stage for Mars Orbit Insertion in September 2014.

As of January 9, MAVEN is at a distance of 14,386,805 km (8,939,546 miles) from Earth and the spacecraft continues to operate nominally in early cruise phase. MAVEN currently has an Earth-centered velocity of 2.43 km/s (1.53 miles/s or 5,508 mph) and a Sun-centered velocity of 32.58 km/s (20.27 miles/s or 72,972 mph).

MAVEN has already traveled 145,978,745 km (90,706,813 miles) on its heliocentric transfer path to Mars. We are currently at a distance of 178,442,517 km (110,879,039 miles) from Mars and one-way light-time to the spacecraft is 48 seconds. MAVEN will travel a total of 712,188,796 km (442,532,752 miles) during its 10-month journey.

The figure shown here is a representation of MAVEN’s “Type-II” trajectory, which will carry the spacecraft approximately 229 degrees around the Sun in its interplanetary Hohmann transfer orbit. For more information about MAVEN’s science orbit after arrival at Mars, please see: https://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/science/science-orbit/

MAVEN remains on schedule for Mars Orbit Insertion on September 21, 2014.