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NASA’s Mars probe beams back selfie to mark four years in orbit
News:
- MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft of NASA has beamed back a selfie to mark its four years of orbiting Mars.
Important Facts:
- 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 .
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
