NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft which entered the orbit of the Red Planet on Sept. 21 is still in its commissioning period, which means that it is still at a phase when its instruments are being turned on and tested.
Scientists, however, reported that MAVEN's instruments have already started collecting data even while the spacecraft is still in its commissioning phase.
On Tuesday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed that MAVEN has already gathered data that indicate its capability to carry out its mission of studying the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet, specifically to find out what caused the thinning of the Martian atmosphere.
The U.S. space agency said that MAVEN has already sent images that gave scientists their first look at a storm of solar energetic particles, or SEPs, on the planet.
SEPs are high-energy particles that blast off from the sun during an explosive solar activity such as coronal mass ejection (CMEs) and solar flare. Scientists believe that SEP storms may have played a role in driving atmospheric loss in Mars. Around Earth, SEP storms can damage the electronics used by satellites.
Using the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS), MAVEN also came up with a comprehensive map of the highly-variable ozone in the Martian atmosphere, which, according to MAVEN Remote Sensing Team member Justin Deighan, offers simultaneous and complete coverage of the Red Planet that is often only possible for Earth.
"On Earth, ozone destruction by refrigerator CFCs is the cause of the polar ozone hole. On Mars, ozone is just as easily destroyed by the byproducts of water vapor breakdown by ultraviolet sunlight. Tracking the ozone lets us track the photochemical processes taking place in the Martian atmosphere," Deighan said.
The orbiter also sent ultraviolet images that show the hydrogen, oxygen and carbon coronas that surround Mars. The oxygen and hydrogen coronas of the planet are the tenuous outer fringe of its upper atmosphere where the atmosphere's edge rendezvous with space. It is in this region that atoms that used to be a part of water or carbon dioxide molecules near the planet's surface can escape to space.
NASA said that it is crucial to follow these molecules because they control the climate. Studying these could also shed light on the 4 billion year history of Mars and make it possible to track how the Martian climate evolved to become dry and cold.
