MAVEN Embarks to Study Climate Change on Mars

On November 18, NASA commenced its latest mission to Mars with the launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Together with the Curiosity rover already operating on the Martian surface, MAVEN is intended to give scientists a clearer picture of the history of climate change on the red planet.

A rendering of the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars [1]

According to NASA, the purpose of the MAVEN mission is to "study the nature of the

red planet’s upper atmosphere, how solar activity contributes to atmospheric loss, and the role that escape of gas from the atmosphere to space has played through time." While the Curiosity rover, which launched in November 2011 and has been active on the surface of Mars since landing in August 2012, is investigating the Martian soil and the atmosphere near the surface, MAVEN is designed to orbit the planet and collect its data from the upper reaches of the planet's atmosphere. From previous ventures to Mars, it has been shown that Mars likely held liquid water on its surface and its atmosphere was once dense and enriching. However, this water has since disappeared and the atmosphere eroded, leaving the barren desert planet that exists today. MAVEN has been sent to give a clearer picture of how this decline happened by measuring the current state of Mars's atmosphere and ionosphere and how it interacts with solar wind. It will also measure how quickly neutral gases and ions are escaping to space and the ratio of stable isotopes. From this information, scientists will be able to infer what climate changes impacted the planet. [2][3][4]

MAVEN's main payload consists of eight instruments created by three separate organizations from across the United States. The biggest contribution comes in the Particles and Fields Package (PFP) provided by the University of California Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, which makes up six of the eight instruments on the satellite. They include: 

the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA), which will measure the solar wind (a stream of particles from the atmosphere of the Sun) and the electrons in Mars's ionosphere; 

Solar Wind Electron Analyzer [5]

the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA), which will measure the solar wind, ion density, and ion velocity in the magnetosheath of Mars (a region of space just inside a planet's magnetosphere);

Solar Wind Ion Analyzer [6]

the SupraThermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument, which will enable measurement of ions in Mars's atmosphere;

SupraThermal and Thermal Ion Composition instrument [7]

the Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) instrument, which will determine the impact of solar wind on the studied atmosphere of Mars;

Solar Energetic Particle instrument [8]

the Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) instrument, which will measure thermal electron density and temperature and measure the extreme ultraviolet input to the atmosphere;

Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument [9]

the Magnetometer (MAG), which will measure interplanetary solar wind and the magnetic fields of Mars. [4]

Magnetometer [10]

The second contribution is the Remote Sensing  Package (RSP) constructed by the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. This package consists of only one instrument, the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS). This instrument will use remote sensors to compile the global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars. [4]

Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph [11]

Finally, the third contribution is the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) Package built by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. This package is also one instrument, the spectrometer itself, which will measure the composition and isotopes of neutral gases and ions in Mars's atmosphere. [4]

Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer [12]

Although the government shutdown in October threatened to push the mission out of its launch window and into a delay of more than two years, MAVEN was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on November 18 using an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. It is projected to reach the Martian atmosphere in September of next year. Once it has reached its destination, it will enter a 5 week test period to enter its proper elliptical orbit and test the instruments and scientific procedures. At its lowest point, the spacecraft will be 150 kilometers (93 miles) above the surface of the planet and can directly sample the gas and ions in the upper atmosphere. Its highest point will be a distance of more than 6000 kilometers (3728 miles) and allow for ultraviolet imaging of the planet. Over the course of its primary mission, which will last one Earth year, MAVEN will drop altitude five times to take measurements down to 125 kilometers (77 miles) above the surface to maximize the profile of the atmosphere. [2][4][13]

The Atlas V rocket carrying MAVEN launches from Cape Canaveral on November 18, 2013 [14]

With the Curiosity rover taking measurements on the ground and MAVEN conducting experiments from the reaches of the upper atmosphere, NASA hopes that they will soon gain a much better understanding of the climate changes that sucked the vital signs of life from Mars. 

Sources:
[1]<http://i.space.com/images/i/000/032/188/i02/MAVEN-orbit-full1.jpg?1377661944>
[2] "MAVEN NASAFacts." Web. <http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2012/11/MAVEN-HQ_FactSheet.pdf>.
[3]"Curiosity NASAFacts." Web. <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fact_sheets/mars-science-laboratory.pdf>.
[4]"MAVEN." MAVEN Features News. University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Web. <http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/>.
[5]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2012/02/SWEA5_full.jpg>
[6]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2012/02/SWIA5_full.jpg>
[7]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2012/02/STATIC5_full.jpg>
[8]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2011/03/SEP_full.jpg>
[9]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2011/08/LPW-EUV.jpg>
[10]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2011/03/MAG_full.jpg>
[11]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2013/04/MAVEN-Remote-Sensing-Package.jpg>
[12]<http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/files/2013/04/NGIMS_full_integrated.jpg>
[13]Elliot, Danielle. "Government Shutdown Could Delay NASA's Mars MAVEN Mission to 2017." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 2 Oct. 2013. Web. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-could-delay-nasas-mars-maven-mission-to-2017/>.
[14]<http://i.space.com/images/i/000/034/555/original/maven-launch-atlas-v-2.jpg?1384884349>