The Maven spacecraft in orbit around Mars has officially started its mission, following a close encounter between a comet and the Red Planet. The Mars orbiter is now starting a one-year mission, which could be extended, if the spacecraft stays in operational condition.
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) observatory was launched to the Red Planet on November 18, 2013. Mission planners from NASA sent commands to the spacecraft, directing the main mission to begin, just one day short of a year after liftoff. The vehicle reached its destination, in orbit around Mars, on September 22, 2014.
The main mission for Maven is studying the alien atmosphere of the planet, including how solar winds emanating from the Sun affect the layers of gas. The observatory comes as close as 94 miles above the surface of the Martian landscape, and as high as 3,750 miles. This investigation could help determine how the atmosphere of Mars became depleted, leading to dry, frozen conditions currently present on the world.
"The nine science instruments will observe the energy from the Sun that hits Mars, the response of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and the way that the interactions lead to loss of gas from the top of the atmosphere to space," Bruce Jakosky from the Goddard Space Flight Center, said.
Observations were made from the orbiter during the first "capture" orbit, after the vehicle arrive in space around its target planet. These readings were taken from a far greater distance than those during the future science stage of the mission. An Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Iuvs) instrument aboard the vehicle recorded clouds of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen streaming from the Martian atmosphere.
Comet Siding Spring flew by Mars in October, observed by a bevy of space-based and terrestrial observatories, including Maven. The observatory examined the comet, finding incandescent magnesium and iron being driven off the cometary nucleus by heating from the Sun.
"From the observations made both during the cruise to Mars and during the transition phase, we know that our instruments are working well. The spacecraft also is operating smoothly, with very few 'hiccups' so far. The science team is ready to go," Jakosky said.
Mariner 4 became the first spacecraft to successfully travel to Mars, after the vehicle was launched 50 years ago, on November 28, 1964. That observatory was the first spacecraft to transmit close-up pictures from another planet back to Earth. Since that time, Russia, The European Space Agency (ESA), and China have all sent spacecraft to the Red Planet. The Maven mission marks the sixteenth successful mission to Mars launched by the United States.
