MAVEN has traveled 442 million miles since its November launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The $671 million mission has deep Colorado roots: It was built in Littleton by Lockheed Martin Space Systems; Centennial-based United Launch Alliance provided the launch vehicle; mission operations are being handled at Lockheed’s Waterton Canyon facility in Jefferson County; and science operations are being led by University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. About $300 million of the project budget remained in Colorado, CU officials say.
September 21st, 2014
NASA’s Mars MAVEN mission set to enter Red Planet’s orbit Sunday The Denver Post
July 16th, 2013
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.
March 4th, 2004
Colorado likely to land lucrative Mars contracts The Denver Post
Colorado, a space industry “powerhouse,” could corner up to half of the contracts in a nearly $3 billion proposed mission to bring martian rocks and soil back to Earth for study. The state’s know-how includes Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ Atlas rockets, which could power a craft to Mars; Ball Aerospace’s expertise in snaring samples and sealing them against contamination; and the University of Colorado’s skill in recognizing the signature of fossilized life forms.
December 7th, 2003
Students tackle ‘Mission Mars’ The Denver Post
Amid the Top-40 music blaring from a speaker and more than 35 people cheering on the other side of the room, seven Kearney Middle School students stood up on the bleachers and yelled directions to their two teammates. It didn’t help. Their teammates, in charge of guiding an autonomous robot through obstacles on a simulated Mars surface, heard too many conflicting messages. The team’s second score was lower than its first.
June 3rd, 2001
Scientifically Speaking The Denver Post
JUNE 15: At 7:30 p.m., Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society will speak during the monthly Denver Astronomical Society meeting, which is open to the public. The free talk will be in Room 105 of Olin Hall, the gold-domed building on the University of Denver campus.