File:KSC-05-S-00251 (ksc 080805 mro smrekar2).webm

English: Our next question comes from Pawan from Sharjah. If the spacecraft fails to slow down to some malfunctioning, what are the backup plans of the scientists for this problem, or, if the spacecraft can not be captured into orbit around Mars? Well, orbit insertion around Mars is probably the most critical event. Perhaps launch is the most critical, and then insertion into orbit around Mars is the next most critical. And there really is no way to recover from a significant problem there. There's a very narrow window in terms of getting close enough to Mars so that you don't shoot right past it, but if you get too close then this spacecraft overheats and it can be damaged, even burn up in the atmosphere. So there's really a very narrow window, we have to fire our engines just the right amount to slow us down so we're not speeding past Mars so fast that it can't go be captured and go into orbit around Mars. So a number of things really have to go very smoothly. We have almost a ton of fuel onboard the spacecraft, and almost half of that is used to slow the spacecraft down as it gets closer to Mars and allow it to go into orbit around Mars. So we don't really have enough fuel to recover from a major problem that would happen during MOI.