- Powered Flight Elements -
Launch Vehicle: Atlas 5-401
Vehicle ID: Payload: AV-038
Launch Date: Nov 18, 2013
Launch Window: 1:28 pm EST
Launch Site: SLC-41, CCAFS

- MAVEN -

NASA Launches Mission to Study Upper Atmosphere of Mars

November 18, 2013

A NASA mission that will investigate how Mars lost its atmosphere and abundant liquid water launched into space at 1:28 p.m. EST Monday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft separated from an Atlas V Centaur rocket's second stage 53 minutes after launch. The solar arrays deployed approximately one hour after launch and currently power the spacecraft. MAVEN now is embarking on a 10-month interplanetary cruise before arriving at Mars next September.

"MAVEN joins our orbiters and rovers already at Mars to explore yet another facet of the Red Planet and prepare for human missions there by the 2030s," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This mission is part of an integrated and strategic exploration program that is uncovering the mysteries of the solar system and enabling us to reach farther destinations.

"In the next four weeks, MAVEN will power on and check out each of its eight instruments. Upon arrival at Mars in September, the spacecraft will execute an orbit insertion maneuver, firing six thrusters that will allow it to be captured by Mars' orbit. In the following five weeks, MAVEN will establish itself in an orbit where it can conduct science operations, deploy science appendages, and commission all instruments before starting its one-Earth-year scientific primary mission.

"After 10 years of developing the mission concept and then the hardware, it's incredibly exciting to see MAVEN on its way," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP) in Boulder, Colo. "But the real excitement will come in 10 months, when we go into orbit around Mars and can start getting the science results we planned.

"MAVEN is traveling to Mars to explore how the Red Planet may have lost its atmosphere over billions of years. By analyzing the planet's upper atmosphere and measuring current rates of atmospheric loss, MAVEN scientists hope to understand how Mars transitioned from a warm, wet planet to the dry desert world we see today."The team overcame every challenge it encountered and still kept MAVEN on schedule and on budget," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The government, industry and university partnership was determined and focused to return to Mars sooner, not later."


MAVEN's principal investigator is based at CU/LASP. The university provided science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. Goddard manages the project and provided two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

NASA Prepares to Launch First Mission to Explore Martian Atmosphere

October 28, 2013

A NASA spacecraft that will examine the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail is undergoing final preparations for a scheduled 1:28 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 18 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) will examine specific processes on Mars that led to the loss of much of its atmosphere. Data and analysis could tell planetary scientists the history of climate change on the Red Planet and provide further information on the history of planetary habitability.

"The MAVEN mission is a significant step toward unraveling the planetary puzzle about Mars' past and present environments," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The knowledge we gain will build on past and current missions examining Mars and will help inform future missions to send humans to Mars."

The 5,410-pound spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket on a 10-month journey to Mars. After arriving at Mars in September 2014, MAVEN will settle into its elliptical science orbit.

Over the course of its one-Earth-year primary mission, MAVEN will observe all of Mars' latitudes. Altitudes will range from 93 miles to more than 3,800 miles. During the primary mission, MAVEN will execute five deep dip maneuvers, descending to an altitude of 78 miles. This marks the lower boundary of the planet's upper atmosphere.

"Launch is an important event, but it's only a step along the way to getting the science measurements," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator at the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP) in Boulder. "We're excited about the science we'll be doing, and are anxious now to get to Mars."

The MAVEN spacecraft will carry three instrument suites. The Particles and Fields Package, provided by the University of California at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., contains six instruments to characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, built by Goddard, will measure the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.

"When we proposed and were selected to develop MAVEN back in 2008, we set our sights on Nov. 18, 2013, as our first launch opportunity," said Dave Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at Goddard. "Now we are poised to launch on that very day. That's quite an accomplishment by the team."

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

Goddard manages the project and provided two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
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The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission will orbit Mars to explore how the sun may have stripped Mars of most of its atmosphere, turning a planet once possibly habitable to microbial life into a cold and barren desert world. MAVEN will be the first spacecraft mission dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars.

Previous missions to Mars have shown us that the atmosphere and climate have changed over time and found evidence of abundant liquid water on the surface in ancient times, though not today. Scientists want to know what happened to the water and where the planet’s thick atmosphere went. The MAVEN mission will 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.

MAVEN Spacecraft | Overview

The MAVEN spacecraft will be the first probe to directly assess the mysteries of the atmosphere of Mars. Previous missions clearly show the past presence of water, but how it and the other gas components were lost is uncertain. Some may have been stripped away by the Sun, while others may still be on Mars – absorbed into its crust. MAVEN will determine the present state of the upper atmosphere and today’s rates of loss to space, which will enable determination of the net integrated loss to space through time.

Weighing more than 5,600 lbs at launch, the spacecraft will generate 1,135 watts of power when it arrives in orbit via its solar panels. The solar panels have been designed in a ‘gull wing’ configuration to help stabilize the spacecraft as it dives through the Martian atmosphere as well as to carry magnetic field instruments at each tip. The fixed main antenna will not only return global data from the primary atmospheric mission, but will also serve as a data relay for future missions.

Science Payload

MAVEN will carry three instrument suites. The Particles and Fields Package (PFP), provided by the University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, contains six instruments that characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet. Four of the instruments were built by the Space Sciences Laboratory, one was built jointly with the University of Colorado at Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and one was built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 

The PFP includes:

• Solar Energetic Particle (SEP)

• Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA)

• Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA)

• SupraThermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC)

• Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW)

• Magnetometer (MAG)

The Remote Sensing Package, built by the University of Colorado at Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS), built by NASA Goddard, will measure the composition and isotopes of neutrals and ions.

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC), the spacecraft carries instruments provided by GSFC, the Colorado University Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley. The spacecraft includes an Articulated Payload Platform (APP), which is a deployable boom with a wide range of attitude capability. The APP will precisely point three instrument packages on its tip to sample the Mars atmosphere. This suite of instruments includes the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer, and the Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition instruments. A separate deployed boom provides standoff from the spacecraft for the Solar Wind Electron Analyzer. Instruments mounted on the spacecraft body provide detailed measurements of the Sun’s electrons, ions, particles, and radiation. Two additional booms measure electron temperature and density.

Together, these instruments will provide unprecedented insight into Mars as it exists today, and how it was in the past.

The MAVEN spacecraft builds on heritage from previous Mars orbiters. It is solar-powered, with a high-gain antenna that can be pointed to Earth for twice-weekly communications sessions. 

Spacecraft specifications:  

• Length: 37.5 feet (11.4 meters)

• Spacecraft Dry Mass: 1991 pounds max (903 kilograms)

• Wet (Fueled) Mass at Launch: 5622 pounds max (2550 kilograms)

• Power: 1135 watts (when Mars is furthest from the Sun)
Atlas V 401 launch vehicle | Overview

The Atlas V 401 launch vehicle consists of a single Atlas V booster stage, the Centaur second stage, and a 4-m diameter payload fairing (PLF).

The Atlas V booster is 12.5 ft in diameter and 106.5 ft in length. The booster’s tanks are structurally rigid and constructed of isogrid aluminum barrels, spun-formed aluminum domes, and intertank skirts. Atlas booster propulsion is provided by the RD-180 engine system (a single engine with two thrust chambers). The RD-180 burns RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or highly purified kerosene) and liquid oxygen, and delivers 860,200 lb of thrust at sea level. The Atlas V booster is controlled by the Centaur avionics system, which provides guidance, flight control, and vehicle sequencing functions during the booster and Centaur phases of flight.

The Centaur second stage is 10 ft in diameter and 41.5 ft in length. Its propellant tanks are constructed of pressure-stabilized, corrosion resistant stainless steel. Centaur is a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen- (cryogenic-) fueled vehicle. It uses a single RL10A-4-2 engine producing 22,300 lb of thrust. The cryogenic tanks are insulated with a combination of helium-purged insulation blankets, radiation shields, and spray-on foam insulation. The Centaur forward adapter provides the structural mountings for the fault-tolerant avionics system and the structural and electrical interfaces with the spacecraft. 

The MAVEN spacecraft is encapsulated in the 4-m (14-ft) diameter large payload fairing (LPF). The 39.3-ft long LPF is a bisector (two-piece shell) fairing consisting of aluminum skin/stringer construction with vertical split-line longerons. The vehicle’s height with the PLF is approximately 188 ft.

Mission Overview

The MAVEN mission will be flown on an easterly trajectory from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), FL. The MAVEN spacecraft will be released into a hyperbolic Earth escape orbit to Mars.

The mission begins with ignition of the RD-180 engine approximately 3.8 seconds prior to liftoff. Shortly after the vehicle clears the pad, it performs its pitch/yaw/roll maneuvers. Following maximum dynamic pressure, the RD-180 is throttled down to 95%. Guidance steering is enabled approximately 140 seconds into flight. Booster engine cutoff (BECO) occurs 242.4 seconds into flight followed by Centaur separation 6 seconds later.

Approximately 4 minutes into flight, the Centaur stage ignites its main engine (MES1). Eight seconds into the burn, the payload fairing is jettisoned. Over the Atlantic Ocean the burn lasts 9.5 minutes, and uses a special steering profile. This profile optimizes the trajectory for the interplanetary target, placing the vehicle into a unique parking orbit tailored for the day and time of launch. 

Following a 24-minute coast, the Centaur main engine is ignited for a second burn (MES2), lasting 5.5 minutes. Following Centaur engine shutdown (MECO2), the vehicle turns to the separation attitude and delays separation for approximately 3 minutes to ensure that the down range Deep Space Network stations will have contact with MAVEN during the separation event. Separation occurs over Australia at approximately 53 minutes after launch.

MAVEN will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., during a 20-day period that begins on November 18, 2013. The trip to Mars takes 10 months, and MAVEN will go into orbit around Mars in September 2014. It will take 5 weeks for the spacecraft to get into its final science-mapping orbit, test the instruments, and test science mapping sequences. After this commissioning phase, MAVEN has a 1-Earth-year primary mission during which it will make its key measurements.

The MAVEN mission orbit will be elliptical. At its closest point to the planet, it will be 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the surface. At this altitude, the spacecraft will pass through the upper atmosphere on each orbit and can sample the gas and ion composition directly. At its highest point, it will be more than 3728 miles (6000 km) above the surface and can carry out ultraviolet imaging of the entire planet. This combination of detailed point measurements and global imaging is a powerful way to understand the properties of the upper atmosphere. The altitude in the MAVEN orbit will be lowered for five “deep-dip” campaigns during the mission. In each deep dip, the spacecraft will take measurements down to an altitude of about 77 miles (125 kilometers). These measurements will provide information down to the top of the well-mixed lower atmosphere, giving scientists a full profile of the top of the atmosphere.

The MAVEN spacecraft will make measurements in all regions of “near-Mars” space. These measurements will allow scientists to characterize the current state of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, determine the rates of loss of gas to space today, and extrapolate backward in time in order to determine the total loss to space through time. 

Science Objectives

MAVEN will have four primary scientific objectives: 

1.  Determine the role that loss of volatiles from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time 

2.  Determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind 

3.  Determine the current rates of escape of neutral gases and ions to space and the processes controlling them 

4.  Determine the ratios of stable isotopes that will tell Mars’ history of loss through time

NASA’s Big Questions

MAVEN will address one of NASA’s “Big Questions”: 

How did life begin and evolve on Earth, and has it evolved elsewhere in the Solar System? 

Microbial life forms have been discovered on Earth that can survive and even thrive at extremes of high and low temperature and pressure, and in conditions of acidity, salinity, alkalinity, and concentrations of heavy metals that would have been regarded as lethal just a few years ago. These discoveries include the wide diversity of life near sea–floor hydrother­mal vent systems, where some organisms live essentially on chemical energy in the absence of sunlight. Similar environments may be present elsewhere in the Solar System. 

Understanding the processes that lead to life, however, is complicated by the actions of biology itself. Earth’s atmosphere today bears little resemblance to the atmosphere of the early Earth, in which life developed; it has been nearly reconstituted by the bacteria, vegetation, and other life forms that have acted upon it over the eons. Fortunately, the Solar System has preserved for us an array of natural laboratories in which we can study life’s raw ingredients — volatiles and organics — as well as their delivery mechanisms and the prebiotic chemical processes that lead to life. We can also find on Earth direct evidence of the interactions of life with its environments, and the dramatic changes that life has undergone as the planet evolved. This can tell us much about the adaptability of life and the prospects that it might survive upheavals on other planets.

MAVEN Partners

MAVEN is led by its Principal Investigator, Dr. Bruce Jakosky, from the University of Colorado. The university is building two science instruments, will conduct science operations, and leads education/public outreach. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the project and is building two of the science instruments. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory is building four science instruments for the mission.  Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., is building the spacecraft and will perform mission operations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides program management via the Mars Program Office, as well as data-relay telecommunications hardware and operations, navigation support, and Deep Space Network operations.