NASA’s MAVEN orbiter is designed to follow up on a huge question surrounding past findings about Mars: If the Red Planet was once far more hospitable to life, what happened?
“What I’m most looking for is clarity,” the University of Colorado’s Dave Brain, a co-investigator for the $670 million mission, told NBC News. “We’re very certain that Mars has undergone some big change over the last several billion years.”
Part of that big change had to do with Mars’ atmosphere: Past studies have suggested that the carbon dioxide atmosphere was once thicker and more Earthlike, which would have kept the planet warmer and wetter. Now the atmospheric density is just 1 percent of Earth’s, offering little protection from the sun’s deadly ultraviolet blast. Where did the air go?
“There are only two answers to that question: You can go down, or you can go up,” Brain said.
MAVEN’s mysteries: An inside look at NASA’s next Mars mission NBC News
Why India’s Mars Mission Is So Much Cheaper Than NASA’s
Former NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin pioneered a “faster, better, cheaper” approach to America’s space program, but he would have been hard-pressed to deliver a Mars mission for the bargain-basement price of India’s first probe to the red planet, which blasted off Tuesday.
“India’s Mars mission, with a budget of $73 million, is far cheaper than comparable missions including NASA’s $671 million Maven satellite that is expected to set off for Mars later in November,” reports The Wall Street Journal, which is among several publications noting the disparity between the cost of U.S. space missions and India’s burgeoning program.
Even the project director of India’s Mars orbiter mission has been quick to tout his country’s frugality in space:
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
“This is less than one-tenth of what the U.S. has spent on their Mars mission Maven,” S. Arunan told reporters at a pre-launch news conference last week, according to Al-Jazeera, which added that “the cost-effectiveness of the mission is indeed turning out to be the highlight of the project, almost eclipsing the other aspects.”
ISRO’s Orbiter, NASA’s Maven may ‘cruise together’ to Mars The Times of India
India’s preparations for its ambitious mission to the Red Planet are proceeding almost simultaneously with the American project on similar lines. On Sunday, ISRO completed the process of mating the 1,340kg Mars Orbiter with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, marking a major step in the Rs 450-crore mission. An ISRO official told TOI that the process began on October 18.
On Monday, American space agency NASA moved the Atlas V rocket’s payload to the clean room in preparation for the mating of the spacecraft-Mars Atmosphere And Volatile Evolution Mission (Maven)-with the launcher, which is scheduled to start in early November. ISRO’s next step will be the closure of the heat-shield on Tuesday, when the launch authorization board will also reconvene at Sriharikota to firm up the launch date.
Mars mission preparations continue despite shutdown
Briefly threatened with missing some or all of its limited launch window to Mars because of the partial government shutdown, NASA’s Maven mission on Thursday won approval from the space agency to resume preparations for a launch next month from Cape Canaveral.
“We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18,” said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for the $671 million mission. “We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track.”
U.S. Government Shutdown Stops MAVEN Work; Threatens NASA Mars Launch! Universe Today
The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA’s next mission to Mars – the “breathtaking beautiful” MAVEN orbiter – is threatened by today’s (Oct. 1) shutdown of the US Federal Government. And the team is very “concerned”, although not yet “panicked.”
MAVEN’s on time launch is endangered by the endless political infighting in Washington DC. And the bitter gridlock could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars or more on this mission alone!
Why? Because launch preparations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have ceased today when workers were ordered to stay home, said the missions top scientist in an exclusive to Universe Today.
“MAVEN is shut down right now!” Prof. Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s principal Investigator, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, told Universe Today in an exclusive post shutdown update today.
NASA’s Mars mission gets rolling from Cape Canaveral Florida Today
With a honk of its horn Monday morning, a flatbed truck rolled off a ship onto a Cape Canaveral Air Force Station wharf carrying the booster that will blast NASA’s next Mars-bound orbiter into space.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage, wrapped in a protective cover, followed close behind.
“It’s precious cargo,” observed Capt. Bob Martus of Foss Maritime Co., who safely piloted the two stages aboard ULA’s “Delta Mariner” on a more than 2,000-mile, week-long trip from Decatur, Ala.
The rocket will now be prepared for a planned Nov. 18 launch of NASA’s $671 million MAVEN mission.
Poetry Heading To Mars Aboard NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft The Inquisitr
NASA will launch more than 1,100 haiku to Mars aboard the MAVEN spacecraft later this year. The haiku are part of a contest that was sponsored by the University of Colorado and aimed at getting the public more interest in space.
Contestants were asked to “submit haiku poetry relating to NASA’s upcoming MAVEN mission to Mars,” per the university’s website. The MAVEN mission, which launches in November, is setting out to find out why the Red Planet lost its protective atmosphere, reports Discovery News. Scientists generally believe that Mars was once much like Earth. However, something happened to turn it from a lush, water world into a dry, cold desert.
Lockheed Martin and CU-Boulder prepare to ship MAVEN for launch Read more: Lockheed Martin and CU-Boulder prepare to ship MAVEN for launch The Denver Post
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is about to leave Jefferson County and head to Cape Canaveral where it will be hurled toward Mars in November on a mission largely devised and developed on Colorado soil.
MAVEN was open for viewing for the last time in its home state on Monday at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. It is set to be disassembled and shipped to Florida’s coast on Aug. 2. There it will spent 3-½ months being prepped for launch.
Go to Mars with MAVEN : Student art contest University of Colorado
Public voting ends today:
What is the MAVEN art contest?
Design artwork about Mars using our sample file. Limit one design per person.
Who chooses the winning art?
You do! The contest is open to public voting on this site. Tell your friends and family to vote for your design! (Each person can vote once per design.)
Is there a prize for winning?
Your art will be used on the DVD label that will fly to Mars on the MAVEN spacecraft. It will also be saved on the DVD.
NASA Announces Robust Multi-Year Mars Program; New Rover to Close Out Decade of New Missions
Building on the success of Curiosity’s Red Planet landing, NASA has announced plans for a robust multi-year Mars program, including a new robotic science rover set to launch in 2020. This announcement affirms the agency’s commitment to a bold exploration program that meets our nation’s scientific and human exploration objectives.
“The Obama administration is committed to a robust Mars exploration program,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “With this next mission, we’re ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s.”
The planned portfolio includes the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers; two NASA spacecraft and contributions to one European spacecraft currently orbiting Mars; the 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere; the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars; and participation in ESA’s 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing “Electra” telecommunication radios to ESA’s 2016 mission and a critical element of the premier astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover.