Critical Design Review “Season”

There’s been a lot going on with MAVEN since the last PI blog post. The instrument teams have built “engineering models” of each instrument; these allow the teams to test out the hardware and software now, and later to test procedures on the ground before doing them on the spacecraft after launch. They’ve done early interface tests with spacecraft test hardware that ensure that the instruments and the spacecraft can talk to and understand each other. Some flight components are being built early, for both the spacecraft and the instruments. The mission design and navigation team is refining the trajectory for the cruise, orbit-insertion, and science-mapping phases of the mission. And the mission operations team is finishing the design of the ground data system, the science planning process, and the ops processes.

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MAVEN PI, Bruce Jakosky - The 2013 MAVEN mission to Mars

MAVEN PI, Bruce Jakosky discusses the upcoming mission to Mars in this Dec. 2009 public lecture at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).

Mars: The Search for Water, the Search for Life

A great video, detailing the geological features indicating a historical presence of water on Mars. From the University of Arizona and the Phoenix mission:

MAVEN Instrument Package

Curious about the mission? Ask MAVEN a question.

Ask MAVEN about the upcoming mission to Mars: http://formspring.me/MAVEN2Mars

Solving the Mystery of the Ancient Mars Atmosphere

The objectives of MAVEN are described in this video and the instrument packages responsible for each scientific goal are demonstrated as they will appear on the spacecraft.

Introduction to the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN)

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, scheduled for launch in late 2013, will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

The goal of MAVEN is to determine the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate through time. Where did the atmosphere – and the water – go?

MAVEN will determine how much of the Martian atmosphere has been lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes to allow extrapolation backward in time.

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 in the Martian atmosphere

The instrument suites will include:

Particles and Field (P&F)Package
• Solar Wind Electron Analyzer
• Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA)
• Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition
• Solar Energetic Particle (SEP)
• Lagmuir Probe and Waves (LPW)
• Magnetometer (MAG)
Remote Sensing (RS) Package
• Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer
Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS)