[meteorite-list] NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet (MAVEN)

Ron Baalke baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
Mon Sep 22 00:02:13 EDT 2014


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-318

NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet
September 21, 2014

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft successfully 
entered Mars' orbit at 7:24 p.m. PDT (10:24 p.m. EDT) Sunday, Sept. 21, 
where it now will prepare to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere as 
never done before. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring 
the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars.

"As the first orbiter dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere, MAVEN 
will greatly improve our understanding of the history of the Martian atmosphere, 
how the climate has changed over time, and how that has influenced the 
evolution of the surface and the potential habitability of the planet," 
said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "It also will better inform a 
future mission to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s."

After a 10-month journey, confirmation of successful orbit insertion was 
received from MAVEN data observed at the Lockheed Martin operations center 
in Littleton, Colorado, as well as from tracking data monitored at NASA's 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory navigation facility in Pasadena, California. 
The telemetry and tracking data were received by NASA's Deep Space Network 
antenna station in Canberra, Australia.

"NASA has a long history of scientific discovery at Mars and the safe 
arrival of MAVEN opens another chapter," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut 
and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at 
the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "Maven will complement NASA's 
other Martian robotic explorers-and those of our partners around the globe-to 
answer some fundamental questions about Mars and life beyond Earth."

Following orbit insertion, MAVEN will begin a six-week commissioning phase 
that includes maneuvering into its final science orbit and testing the 
instruments and

science-mapping commands. MAVEN then will begin its one Earth-year primary 
mission, taking measurements of the composition, structure and escape 
of gases in Mars' upper atmosphere and its interaction with the sun and 
solar wind.

"It's taken 11 years from the original concept for MAVEN to now having 
a spacecraft in orbit at Mars," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator 
with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University 
of Colorado, Boulder (CU/LASP). "I'm delighted to be here safely and successfully, 
and looking forward to starting our science mission."

The primary mission includes five "deep-dip" campaigns, in which MAVEN's 
periapsis, or lowest orbit altitude, will be lowered from 93 miles (150 
kilometers) to about 77 miles (125 kilometers). These measurements will 
provide information down to where the upper and lower atmospheres meet, 
giving scientists a full profile of the upper tier.

"This was a very big day for MAVEN," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project 
manager from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. 
"We're very excited to join the constellation of spacecraft in orbit at 
Mars and on the surface of the Red Planet. The commissioning phase will 
keep the operations team busy for the next six weeks, and then we'll begin, 
at last, the science phase of the mission. Congratulations to the team 
for a job well done today."

MAVEN launched Nov. 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 
Florida, carrying three instrument packages. The Particles and Fields 
Package, built by the University of California at Berkeley with support 
from CU/LASP and Goddard, contains six instruments that will characterize 
the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet. The Remote Sensing Package, 
built by CU/LASP, will identify characteristics present throughout the 
upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, 
provided by Goddard, will measure the composition and isotopes of atomic 
particles.

The spacecraft's principal investigator is based at CU/LASP. The university 
provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well 
as education and public outreach, for the mission.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project and also provided 
two science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft 
and is responsible for mission operations. The Space Sciences Laboratory 
at the University of California at Berkeley provided four science instruments 
for MAVEN. JPL provides navigation and Deep Space Network support, and 
Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. JPL, a division 
of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars 
Exploration Program for NASA.

To learn more about the MAVEN mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/maven

and

http://mars.nasa.gov/maven/

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

Nancy Neal-Jones / Elizabeth Zubritsky
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
301-286-0039 / 301-614-5438
nancy.n.jones at nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.zubritsky at nasa.gov

2014-318



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