NASA launches spacecraft to study Mars atmosphere

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA launches spacecraft to study Mars atmosphere
AFP
By Kerry Sheridan 18 hours ago



This November 18, 2013 video image provided by NASA TV shows the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft onboard as it launches in Cape Canaveral, Florida



Cape Canaveral (AFP) - NASA on Monday launched its unmanned MAVEN spacecraft toward Mars to study the Red Planet's atmosphere for clues as to why Earth's neighbor lost its warmth and water over time.

The white Atlas V 401 rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter blasted off on schedule at 1:28 pm (1828 GMT).

"Everything is looking good," said NASA mission control.

The flawless liftoff of the $671 million spacecraft kicked off the 10-month journey to the Red Planet.

Arrival at Mars is scheduled for September 2014, with the science mission of the solar-wing paneled orbiter set to begin two months later.

The probe is different from past NASA missions because it focuses not on the dry surface but on the mysteries of the never-before-studied upper atmosphere.



NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft onboard an Atlas 5 rocket lifts on November 18


Much of MAVEN's year-long mission will be spent circling the planet 6,000 kilometers (3,800 miles) above the surface.

However, it will execute five deep dips to a distance of just 125 kilometers (78 miles) above the Martian landscape to get readings of the atmosphere at various levels.

Researchers have described the mission as a search for a missing piece to the puzzle of what happened to Mars' atmosphere, perhaps billions of years ago, to transform Earth's neighbor from a water-bearing planet that might have been favorable for life to a dry, barren desert.

"MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere," the US space agency said.

"The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars' atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface."

One of its three scientific tools is a solar wind and ionosphere gauge called the Particles and Fields Package, built by the University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory.

A second tool, called the Remote Sensing Package, was built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado and will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

The third instrument, the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will measure the composition and isotopes of neutrals and ions.

"With MAVEN, we're exploring the single biggest unexplored piece of Mars so far," said the mission's principal investigator, Bruce Jakosky.

NASA has sent a series of rovers to explore the surface of the Red Planet, including its latest, Curiosity, which arrived last year.

The deep space orbiter launched earlier this month by India seeks to find traces of methane from Mars and may arrive two days later than the US spacecraft.

The science goals of the two do not overlap much. The Indian probe will be searching for methane which could prove the existence of some ancient life form, while the US probe seeks answers about the planet's climate change.

MAVEN's findings are expected to help pave the way for a future visit by humans to the Red Planet, perhaps as early as 2030, NASA has said.


http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-spacecraft-poised-launch-clues-martian-air-062337800.html

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA blasts rocket carrying new Mars probe
JOE SKIPPER November 18, 2013 2:07 PM



Atlas 5 United Launch Alliance rocket lifts off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft in Cape Canaveral


















NASA launched its newest Mars probe toward the Red Planet Monday (Nov. 18) on a mission to determine how the Martian atmosphere transformed the world into the desolate wasteland it is today.

The robotic spacecraft, called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe (MAVEN), launched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT), beginning a 10-month journey to Mars. (Space.com)


http://news.yahoo.com/photos/nasa-blasts-rocket-carrying-new-mars-probe-1384802089-slideshow/

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA satellite launched to find clues about Mars' lost water
Reuters
November 18, 2013 1:55 PM



* Journey to Mars will take 10 months

* Spacecraft to study how sun peels away planet's atmosphere

* Mars believed to have been warmer, wetter in its past


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov 18 (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, sending a Mars orbiter on its way to study how the planet most like Earth in the solar system lost its water.

Unlike previous Mars probes, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, will not be looking at or landing on the planet's dry, dusty surface. Instead, MAVEN will scan and sample what remains of the thin Martian atmosphere and watch in real-time how it is peeled away, molecule by molecule, by killer solar radiation.

The first step of the planned year-long, $671 million mission was getting MAVEN into space. The satellite, tucked inside a protective nosecone, lifted off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at 1:28 p.m. EST/1838 GMT to begin a10-month flight to Mars.

United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Upon arrival, MAVEN will fire its braking rocket to put itself into a highly elliptical orbit around Mars, which will allow it to dip down as close as about 65 miles (105 km) from the ground to gather air samples for analysis.

At its highest point, MAVEN will be about 3,728 miles (6,000km) away, a vantage point for measuring how much and what types of radiation are sweeping past the planet from the sun and cosmic sources.

The point of the project is to determine how much of the atmosphere is being lost to space today and extrapolate back in time to figure out what was happening in Mars' past.


EARTH'S LOST TWIN?

In the 49 years since NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft flew by Mars for the first time, an increasingly more sophisticated series of orbiters, landers and rovers have amassed solid evidence that the fourth planet from the sun was once much more like Earth, with oceans, rivers, rain and snow.

"We see a lot of evidence for liquid water having flowed over the surface in ancient times. We see river channels, features that look like there have been lakes inside of impact craters. We see minerals that form only in the presence of liquid water," said lead scientist Bruce Jakosky, with the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"All of these suggest that there has been water on the planet early in time and today of course we see a cold, dry, desert-like planet," he said.

Figuring out what happened to Mars' climate hinges on learning what happened to the planet's water and the once-thick atmosphere needed to keep Mars warm enough for surface water.

The information also is expected to help scientists home in on when in Mars' history it may have been most suitable for life to evolve.

NASA's ongoing Curiosity rover mission is scouting for potential habitats that could have supported microbial life.

"Water is a requirement for life and if we understand where the water has been and why it's not there anymore we can learn more about what the history of the potential for life has been," Jakosky said.

There are two options for where the planet's missing water and atmosphere went: down into the ground or up into space.

Scientists know some of the planet's carbon dioxide ended upon the surface and joined with minerals in the crust. But so far, the ground inventory is not large enough to account for the early, thick atmosphere Mars would have needed to support water on its surface.

MAVEN is designed to explore the other option, that the water and atmosphere were lost into space, a process that began about 4 billion years ago when the planet's protective magnetic field mysteriously turned off.

"The sun, the solar wind can drive processes that remove gas from the top of the atmosphere. We want to understand whether the sun was able to remove gas from the top of the atmosphere and how much," Jakosky said.

MAVEN is due to reach Mars on Sept. 22, 2014 - two days before India's Mars Orbiter Mission, which launched on Nov. 5.India's probe has been raising its orbit around Earth and should be in position on Dec. 1 to begin the journey to Mars.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasa-satellite-launched-clues-mars-185559755.html

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA satellite launched to find clues about Mars' lost water
Reuters
By Irene Klotz November 18, 2013 2:05 PM



An Atlas V United Launch Alliance rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft in Cape Canaveral



CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, sending a Mars orbiter on its way to study how the planet most like Earth in the solar system lost its water.

Unlike previous Mars probes, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, will not be looking at or landing on the planet's dry, dusty surface. Instead, MAVEN will scan and sample what remains of the thin Martian atmosphere and watch in real-time how it is peeled away, molecule by molecule, by killer solar radiation.

The first step of the planned year-long, $671 million mission was getting MAVEN into space. The satellite, tucked inside a protective nosecone, lifted off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at 1:28 p.m. EST/1838 GMT to begin a 10-month flight to Mars.

United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Upon arrival, MAVEN will fire its braking rocket to put itself into a highly elliptical orbit around Mars, which will allow it to dip down as close as about 65 miles from the ground to gather air samples for analysis.

At its highest point, MAVEN will be about 3,728 miles away, a vantage point for measuring how much and what types of radiation are sweeping past the planet from the sun and cosmic sources.

The point of the project is to determine how much of the atmosphere is being lost to space today and extrapolate back in time to figure out what was happening in Mars' past.



An Atlas V United Launch Alliance rocket carrying NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft


EARTH'S LOST TWIN?

In the 49 years since NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft flew by Mars for the first time, an increasingly more sophisticated series of orbiters, landers and rovers have amassed solid evidence that the fourth planet from the sun was once much more like Earth, with oceans, rivers, rain and snow.

"We see a lot of evidence for liquid water having flowed over the surface in ancient times. We see river channels, features that look like there have been lakes inside of impact craters. We see minerals that form only in the presence of liquid water," said lead scientist Bruce Jakosky, with the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"All of these suggest that there has been water on the planet early in time and today of course we see a cold, dry, desert-like planet," he said.

Figuring out what happened to Mars' climate hinges on learning what happened to the planet's water and the once-thick atmosphere needed to keep Mars warm enough for surface water.

The information also is expected to help scientists home in on when in Mars' history it may have been most suitable for life to evolve.

NASA's ongoing Curiosity rover mission is scouting for potential habitats that could have supported microbial life.

"Water is a requirement for life and if we understand where the water has been and why it's not there anymore we can learn more about what the history of the potential for life has been," Jakosky said.

There are two options for where the planet's missing water and atmosphere went: down into the ground or up into space.

Scientists know some of the planet's carbon dioxide ended up on the surface and joined with minerals in the crust. But so far, the ground inventory is not large enough to account for the early, thick atmosphere Mars would have needed to support water on its surface.

MAVEN is designed to explore the other option, that the water and atmosphere were lost into space, a process that began about 4 billion years ago when the planet's protective magnetic field mysteriously turned off.

"The sun, the solar wind can drive processes that remove gas from the top of the atmosphere. We want to understand whether the sun was able to remove gas from the top of the atmosphere and how much," Jakosky said.

MAVEN is due to reach Mars on September 22, 2014 - two days before India's Mars Orbiter Mission, which launched on November 5. India's probe has been raising its orbit around Earth and should be in position on December 1 to begin the journey to Mars.


http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-satellite-launched-clues-mars-lost-water-190513328.html