Surveyor Completes AeroBraking

Posted by jburk to Mars Global Surveyor at February 4, 1999 12:00 PM

For the first time a spacecraft has successfully obtained a stable circular orbit using aerobraking as the primary method for deceleration. At 12.11am Feb 4, Surveyor fired its main engine raising its orbit completely out of the Martian atmosphere marking the end of the aerobraking phase and the start of the primary mapping mission