The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) spacecraft has arrived successfully at Mars, entering orbit around the Red Planet. The NASA-managed craft is designed to study the upper atmosphere of the planet, in order to better understand how the world lost its ancient water deposits.
The Maven arrived at Mars at 10:24 p.m. EDT on Sept. 21, after a series of successful firings of its engines slowed the vehicle down enough so it could be captured by the gravity of the planet. Engines fired for 33 minutes, in a do-or-die maneuver for the distant spacecraft.
The atmosphere of Mars has never been explored in detail before by spacecraft from the Earth.
"As the first orbiter dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere, Maven will greatly improve our understanding of the history of the Martian atmosphere, how the climate has changed over time, and how that has influenced the evolution of the surface and the potential habitability of the planet," Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, said.
The Mars orbiter launched from the Earth in November 2013, and has spent 10 months traversing the 442 million miles between the two planets. Confirmation of successful placement in orbit around Mars was received by an operations center in Littleton, Colorado, operated by Lockheed Martin, as well as controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Maven will spend the next six weeks, slowly lowering its orbit, in order to begin scientific investigations of Mars. During this time, observational instruments and analyzers will continue to come online ready to survey the alien world. At its closest approach, the vehicle will skim just 77 miles above the surface of the planet, in its investigation of the Martian atmosphere.
Maven is carrying a trio of instrument packages, each with a specific mission in mind. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, developed at the Goddard Space Center, will measure the makeup of atoms in the upper atmosphere. The Particles and Fields Package will study the ionosphere and how solar wind affects its behavior, utilizing half a dozen tools. The Remote Sensing Package uses the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph to study the upper atmosphere of Mars.
Maven is scheduled to orbit Mars for a year, collecting data on the atmosphere of the most Earth-like of all planets in our solar system.
Data from Maven will be used to plan a human mission to the world, scheduled sometime in the 2030s. Planning, construction, and flight to Mars took 11 years to complete.
