Nozomi Mission Profile
After launch on an M-V-3 launch vehicle Nozomi was put into an elliptical geocentric parking orbit with a perigee of 340 km and an apogee of 400,000 km. The spacecraft will use lunar swingbys on 24 September and 18 December, 1998 to increase the apogee of its orbit. It will then swing by Earth on 20 December and slingshot into an escape trajectory towards Mars. It is scheduled to arrive at Mars on 11 October 1999 at 7:45:14 UT. Nozomi will be inserted into a highly eccentric Mars orbit with a periapsis 300 km above the surface, an apoapsis of 15 Mars radii, and an inclination of 138 degrees. The periapsis will then be lowered to 150 km, the orbital period will be about 38.25 hours. The spacecraft will be spin stabilized at 7.5 RPM with its spin axis (and the dish antenna) pointed towards Earth. The periapsis portion of the orbit will allow in-situ measurements of the thermosphere and lower exosphere and remote sensing of the lower atmosphere and surface. The more distant parts of the orbit will allow study of the ions and neutral gas escaping from Mars and their interactions with the solar wind. The nominal mission is planned for one martian year (approximately two Earth years). An extended mission may allow operation of the mission for three to five years. The spacecraft will also point its cameras at the martian moons Phobos and Deimos.