Mars Orbiter Calls The Red Planet Home

The Mars Orbiter, which has been stationed around Mars since March has finally settled into orbit around the red giant after carefully adjusting its position lest it crash onto the surface below (not a good thing).

It will join other satellites orbiting Mars as well as two rovers below and hopefully capture the Martian landscape in unprecedented detail.

(MSNBC) The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its thrusters for 12 minutes Monday to adjust to its final position six months after it arrived at the planet. Its altitude ranges between 155 to 196 miles above the surface.

"Getting to this point is a great achievement," said Dan Johnston, deputy mission manager at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $720 million mission.

Detailing Mars's surface will benefit scientists as they select a future landing site and (hopefully) a colony site as well.

Mars has yet to play a critical role in history, as it is humanities test to whether they can terraform a world into a second Earth, an important task if they are to survive outside of the solar system.

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