NASA’s Mars probe beams back selfie to mark four years in orbit

NASA’s Mars probe beams back selfie to mark four years in orbit

News:

1. MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft of NASA has beamed back a selfie to mark its four years of orbiting Mars.

Important Facts:

2. About Maven Mission:

• The MAVEN mission of NASA was launched on November 18, 2013, and went into Mars orbit on September 21, 2014.
• Its objective was to explore  the Martian upper atmosphere and its influence on climate.
• MAVEN has completed its primary mission in November 2015 and has been operating in an extended mission with continuous investigation of Mars upper atmosphere .

3. Findings of MAVEN Mission:

• Found compelling evidence that the loss of atmosphere to space has been a major driver of climate change on Mars.
• It demonstrated that  majority of the carbon dioxide (CO2) on Mars has been lost to space and there is not enough left to support life on the planet by warming it.
• It also discovered two new types of Martian auroras i.e., Diffuse aurora and Proton aurora.

4. Road ahead:

• Next year, researchers will carefully guide the spacecraft through Mars upper atmosphere to slow it.
• This will reduce the highest altitude in MAVEN’s orbit to enhance its ability to communicate effectively with rovers on the Martian surface.
• Currently, MAVEN carries out about one relay pass per week with one of the rovers and this number will increase after NASA’s InSight mission lands on Mars in November 2018.

5. About NASA’s InSight mission

• Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (INSIGHT), is a Mars lander designed by NASA to study the deep interior of Mars, taking the planet’s vital signs, its pulse and temperature.
• It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core, since the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago.
• InSight has three Science Instruments, namely a seismometer, a heat flow probe and a radio science experiment to analyse MARS interior.