Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)

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Why in News?

NASA has lost contact with its MAVEN spacecraft, and engineers are still trying to re-establish communication.

MAVEN – It is NASA’s 1^st mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.
Launch Location – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Launched in – 2013, had a nominal duration of one year but has been operating under extended missions since entering Mars orbit in 2014.
Goal – To investigate how Mars lost its atmosphere and water over billions of years, transforming from a potentially habitable world into a cold desert.

Features

Launch Vehicle – Atlas V01.
Mars Orbit Insertion – Sept. 21, 2014, days before Mangalyaan entered Mars (Sep 24).
Science Payload – 143 pounds (65 kg) across 8 instruments, including
- Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) - Detects ultraviolet light to measure gases escaping Mars’ atmosphere.
- Magnetometer & Mass Spectrometer - Track solar wind penetration and elemental composition of escaping particles.
Orbit – It typically follows an elliptical path, ranging from 150 km to 6,200 km above the surface, with periodic "deep dips" to sample the atmosphere directly.
Communications – It is equipped with a high-gain antenna and an Electra Ultra High Frequency (UHF) package to relay data from Mars rovers and landers back to Earth.

Key Discoveries

Atmospheric Loss – MAVEN observed oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms escaping into space, once part of CO₂ and H₂O molecules.
Solar Wind Impact – It found that Mars loses atmosphere primarily due to solar wind particles striking its unprotected atmosphere.
Seasonal Variation – Mars loses 10 times more hydrogen when closer to the Sun compared to farther away.
Auroras – Unlike Earth’s polar auroras, MAVEN detected planet-wide auroras on Mars caused by solar wind penetrating deeply into the atmosphere.
Wind Mapping – It has created the 1^st global wind map of Mars’ upper atmosphere.

Quick Fact

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)/Mangalyaan

Launched on – November 5, 2013
India became the 1^st nation to reach Mars on its very first attempt.
Launch Vehicle – PSLV-XL (C25)
Purpose – It was primarily a technology demonstration venture, to explore and observe Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and the Martian atmosphere.

References