A NASA spacecraft that will examine the upper atmosphere of Mars in
unprecedented detail is undergoing final preparations for a scheduled
1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station in Florida.
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) will
examine specific processes on Mars that led to the loss of much of its
atmosphere. Data and analysis could tell planetary scientists the
history of climate change on the Red Planet and provide further
information on the history of planetary habitability.
"The MAVEN mission is a significant step toward unraveling the
planetary puzzle about Mars' past and present environments," said John
Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. "The knowledge we gain will build on past and
current missions examining Mars and will help inform future missions to
send humans to Mars."
The 5,410-pound spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket on a 10-month journey to Mars. After
arriving at Mars in September 2014, MAVEN will settle into its
elliptical science orbit.
Over the course of its one-Earth-year primary mission, MAVEN will
observe all of Mars' latitudes. Altitudes will range from 93 miles to
more than 3,800 miles. During the primary mission, MAVEN will execute
five deep dip maneuvers, descending to an altitude of 78 miles. This
marks the lower boundary of the planet's upper atmosphere.
"Launch is an important event, but it's only a step along the way to
getting the science measurements," said Bruce Jakosky, principal
investigator at the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for
Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP) in Boulder. "We're excited about
the science we'll be doing, and are anxious now to get to Mars."
The MAVEN spacecraft will carry three instrument suites. The
Particles and Fields Package, provided by the University of California
at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md., contains six instruments to characterize the
solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars. The Remote Sensing Package, built
by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper
atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer,
built by Goddard, will measure the composition of Mars’ upper
atmosphere.
"When we proposed and were selected to develop MAVEN back in 2008, we
set our sights on Nov. 18, 2013, as our first launch opportunity," said
Dave Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at Goddard. "Now we are poised to
launch on that very day. That's quite an accomplishment by the team."
MAVEN's principal investigator is based at CU/LASP. The university
provided science instruments and leads science operations, as well as
education and public outreach, for the mission.
Goddard manages the project and provided two of the science
instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is
responsible for mission operations. The University of California at
Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided science instruments for
the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra
telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
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