A US spacecraft that scientists say could revolutionize the understanding of Mars moved into a "perfect" orbit around the Red Planet on Friday, NASA said.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), the most advanced mission ever sent to another planet, will circle the Red Planet for five years in search of water and life, sending back path-breaking data to Earth.
"This will rewrite the textbooks on Mars," said Jim Graf, project manager for NASA.
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, cheered and applauded as the MRO, packed with an unprecedented high-tech array of instrumentation, completed its delicate deceleration into orbit on Friday.
After a seven-month voyage, the MRO fired its rockets to brake the 2.2-tonne vehicle, allowing it to be grabbed by Mars's gravitational pull.
The MRO mission to study the Mars surface is "the most technologically advanced payload NASA has ever sent to another planet," according to Graf.
It carries six observation and analysis instruments to search for signs of water and ice from the planet's outer atmosphere to below the Martian surface.
The entry maneuver placed the MRO in an elliptical revolution around Mars in which it will trace an orbit varying in altitude from 400km to 44,000km.
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
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Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
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