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NASAâ€™s Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Plane

22 September 2014 11:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Zumrud Pashayeva – APA. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft successfully entered Mars’ orbit on September 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, APA reports quoting the official website of NASA.

After a 10-month journey, confirmation of successful orbit insertion was received from MAVEN data.

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.

NASA has sent Mars Spatial Intelligence, Mars Odyssey as well as the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecrafts to Mars’ orbit.