NASA's Mars spacecraft to begin orbit of Red Planet

A NASA spacecraft that aims to study the upper atmosphere of Mars and reveal how its climate changed over time is poised to begin orbiting the Red Planet on Sunday.

After a 10-month journey, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) probe is making its final approach to Mars and will begin circling Earth's neighbor after 9.30pm Sunday (0130 GMT Monday).

MAVEN's findings are expected to help pave the way for a future visit by humans to the Red Planet, perhaps as early as 2030.

MAVEN, an unmanned spacecraft, has traveled 442 million miles (711 million kilometers) since it launched late last year.

NASA television coverage of the orbital insertion begins at 9.30pm (0130 GMT). The process will start with the brief firing of six small thruster engines to steady the spacecraft, NASA said.

"The engines will ignite and burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be pulled into an elliptical orbit with a period of 35 hours," the US space agency said.

Once MAVEN begins circling Mars, it will enter a six-week phase for tests.