Mars Has Long Attracted Robotic Explorers

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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.

MAVEN Gets a Fairing

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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.

 

2-Hour Launch Window for MAVEN

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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.

Welcome to NASA’s Coverage of the Preparations and Launch of the MAVEN Mission

Hello from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the MAVEN spacecraft is undergoing careful preparations at the hands of engineers and technicians ahead of its launch to study the upper atmosphere and history of Mars. Adjacent to Kennedy, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, teams are readying a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket which will lift the MAVEN spacecraft off Earth and send it on a 10-month flight to the Red Planet. MAVEN will orbit Mars, not land on it, and collect data about the upper atmosphere of our closest planetary neighbor in unprecedented detail.

Launch is planned for Nov. 18 at 1:28 p.m. EST. We will provide a minute-by-minute account of the procedures on launch day from Hangar AE as the launch and mission teams get ready to begin this exciting mission!

We will cover the processing of MAVEN and its Atlas V launch vehicle and you can get more in-depth information about MAVEN here and about NASA’s Mars exploration program here.