AEROBRAKING DATA PAGE












    MRO graph
    MRO graph

























    Examples of the MRO Aerobraking PROFILE (left figure) and ALTITUDE (right figure) data of atmospheric density and scale height derived from measured spacecraft deceleration during an aerobraking drag pass.

    Useful Mission Documents


    Description of the DATA


    For each drag pass (spanning orbits 18 - 445 of the mission) there is an individual ASCII PROFILE file containing derived density values at 1-second intervals for a time period spanning several hundred seconds centered upon the periapse time. There is also a separate ASCII ALTITUDE file which provides derived density and scale height values at specified altitudes (100 km, 110 km, etc.) for both the inbound and outbound portions of that orbit/drag pass as well as at the periapsis altitude, and 1.26 nanobar pressure level during both the inbound and outbound portions of the orbit/drag pass.

    The data contained within the MRO AEROBRAKING PDS archive mroa_0001 are provided in either the ALTITUDE or PROFILE folders within the DATA folder. Within both the PROFILE and ALTITUDE folders a user will find subfolders containing ~100 drag passes of data, with each drag pass consisting of a single ASCII file. For instance, the data presented in the left figure above are from the L2P306.TAB file located within the P300_399 folder within the PROFILE folder, while the data presented in the right-side figure above are located in the L3P306.TAB file located in the P300_399 folder located within the ALTITUDE folder. The contents and structure of the TAB files are described within text within those data files. RAW MRO accelerometer data are also available within their own folder below the DATA folder. Very similar derived spacecraft aerobraking data, with archive structures very similar to this MRO aerobraking archive, are also available from the MGS mission (mgsa_0002) and also the Mars Odyssey mission (odya_0001).

    Retrieving the data volume

    Raw Data

    Calibrated Data

    Note:
    Very similar derived spacecraft aerobraking data, with archive structures very similar to this MRO aerobraking archive, are also available from the MGS and Odyssey mission archives