Month: November 2013

After showing they could build rockets strong enough to reach space, it didn’t take long for rocket scientists in America and Russia to begin sending satellites toward Mars. The first launch took place Oct. 10, 1960, from the Soviet Union almost three years to the day since the nation launched the first satellite, Sputnik. This time though, the craft did not reach Earth orbit. In fact, the first six missions NASA and the Soviet Union launched to Mars failed. NASA’s Mariner 4 was the first to carry off its Mars mission successfully when it flew within 6,118 miles of the planet and took pictures including the one on the left. The one on the right is from NASA’s Curiosity rover which began operating on Mars in 2012.
Take a look at the extensive record of Mars missions launched since the dawn of the Space Age here.

Here’s what MAVEN looked like just before engineers and technicians fit the two-piece payload fairing around it. The spacecraft’s solar arrays and instruments have been folded up. The fairing with MAVEN inside will be bolted to the top of an Atlas V rocket for launch at 1:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The fairing, which protects the spacecraft from atmospheric heating, will separate from around MAVEN a few minutes into its ascent into space.

 

Each of MAVEN’s solar array “wings” has a magnetometer on its tip to take readings of Martian magnetic field as the spacecraft orbits the Red Planet. The data is seen as crucial to evaluate the interaction between the solar wind from the sun and the thin atmosphere of Mars.

The launch team for MAVEN will have two hours to begin the flight on launch day. The window opens Nov. 18 at 1:28 p.m. EST and closes at 3:28 p.m. EST. The launch window is dictated by a number of factors, primarily the alignment of Earth and MAVEN’s destination, Mars. The spacecraft will fly into space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with a Centaur upper stage. It will take MAVEN 10 months to reach Mars and go into orbit before beginning its in-depth study of the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet.

Wonder what MAVEN would’ve seen on Mars if it had been in orbit there over Halloween? Read this for the answer.