Monday, 18 November 2013

NASA Launched MAVEN Mission to Study Mars Atmosphere

The US space agency NASA on 18 November 2013 launched its MAVEN orbiter Mission to Mars planet. The orbiter mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 18:28 GMT.                                                
         
The probe will have a 10-month cruise to the Red Planet- Mars. MAVEN is going to study Mars' atmosphere. During the course of the long cruise, Maven will perform four trajectory corrections, with the first scheduled to occur on 3rd December 2013.

About MAVEN Mission

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolutio NASA (MAVEN) mission is part of NASA's Mars Scout program. The mission will explore the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.

The trip to Mars takes 10 months, and MAVEN will go into orbit around Mars in September 2014. MAVEN will be the NASA’s first spacecraft mission dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars.

Scientists will use MAVEN data to determine the role that loss of volatile from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time, giving insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The entire MAVEN mission cost 671 million US Dollars.

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