NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) spacecraft recently began testing its scientific equipment, collecting data and sending back details from the red planet.
Not only are Maven's instruments working perfectly, but its first images are clearer than NASA expected, showing Mars' upper atmosphere and part of its composition.
All of Maven's scientific instruments are now on and testing is underway to make sure they're working properly. So far, according to NASA, so good.
"It's turning out to be an easy and straightforward spacecraft to fly, at least so far," says Maven principal investigator Bruce Jakosky. "It really looks as if we're headed for an exciting science mission."
Part of the new data that Maven collected was how solar energetic particles (SEPS) affect the atmosphere. A solar flare last month created a coronal mass ejection (CME), a huge burst of solar wind and magnetic fields that travelled through space. The CME reached Mars a few days later and one of Maven's instruments witnessed the event.
Maven saw how the SEPS, mostly protons, sent its energy into the upper atmosphere of the planet. This is part of the atmosphere that is mostly hydrogen and oxygen, although scientists believe that its atoms were once carbon dioxide or water molecules. These molecules control weather on Mars, so observing the upper atmosphere could provide clues about Mars' history as its weather changed from warm and wet to cold and dry.
Maven took images of the upper atmosphere with its Imaging Ultaviolet Spectrograph. Not only did those images confirm what scientists believe about the planet's upper atmosphere, but it also created a map of ozone in that atmosphere after measuring absorption of ultraviolet light.
"With these maps we have the kind of complete and simultaneous coverage of Mars that is usually only possible for Earth," says Maven remote sensing team member Justin Deighan. "Tracking the ozone lets us track the photochemical processes taking place in the Martian atmosphere."
Once Maven's instruments are fully tested, its mission, part of which is tracking that ozone, begins, probably in about two weeks. Testing will not just include all of Maven's scientific instruments, but also communications between Maven and the Mars Curiosity rover and Maven and Earth.
Maven launched in 2012 and arrived at Mars' orbit on Sept. 21, 2014. Its mission will last a year, although, as with all missions, that could eventually be extended.
