NASA launches spacecraft to study Mars atmosphere Cape, will work with Mangalyaan

Canaveral: NASA on Monday launched its unmanned MAVEN spacecraft toward Mars to study the Red Planet's atmosphere for clues as to why Earth's neighbor lost its warmth and water over time.

The white Atlas V 401 rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter blasted off on schedule at 1:28 pm (2358 IST).

"Everything is looking good," said NASA mission control. The flawless liftoff of the USD 671 million spacecraft kicked off the 10-month journey to the Red Planet. Arrival at Mars is scheduled for September 2014, with the science mission of the solar-wing paneled orbiter set to begin two months later.

The probe is different from past NASA missions because it focuses not on the dry surface but on the mysteries of the never-before-studied upper atmosphere.

Much of MAVEN's year-long mission will be spent circling the planet 6,000 kilometers above the surface. However, it will execute five deep dips to a distance of just 125 kilometers above the Martian landscape to get readings of the atmosphere at various levels.

Researchers have described the mission as a search for a missing piece to the puzzle of what happened to Mars' atmosphere, perhaps billions of years ago, to transform Earth's neighbour from a water-bearing planet that might have been favourable for life to a dry, barren desert.

"MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere," the US space agency said.

"The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars' atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface."

One of its three scientific tools is a solar wind and ionosphere gauge called the Particles and Fields Package, built by the University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory.

A second tool, called the Remote Sensing Package, was built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado and will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

The third instrument, the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will measure the composition and isotopes of neutrals and ions. "With MAVEN, we're exploring the single biggest unexplored piece of Mars so far," said the mission's principal investigator, Bruce Jakosky.

NASA has sent a series of rovers to explore the surface of the Red Planet, including its latest, Curiosity, which arrived last year. The deep space orbiter launched earlier this month by India seeks to find traces of methane from Mars and may arrive two days later than the US spacecraft.

Next: Mangalyaan & MAVEN will complement each other in Mars findings

Mangalyaan & MAVEN will complement each other in Mars findings

Chennai: ISRO and NASA will coordinate functions of their Mars Orbiters - Mangalyaan and MAVEN - once both get into orbit of the Red Planet in September next year.

"If NASA's orbiter MAVEN and ISRO's Mars Orbiter are successful, they will complement each other in findings and help understand the red planet better. We will coordinate with NASA once both our missions get there. Right now our focus is to get the Orbiter there," ISRO sources told PTI.

Explaining the differences between both missions, they said that unlike the American NASA orbiter, MOM is a 'small and modest' attempt by India.

While NASA's MAVEN mission is worth 671 million USD, India's Mars Orbiter mission cost only Rs 450 crore, they said, adding MAVEN carried eight scientific instruments, while the ISRO mission carried five.

"We are more application-specific in our approach. So we don't spend much on research. But this is one of our efforts in exploratory science... India's modest contribution to the understanding of science," they said.

ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan had earlier told reporters that the findings of ISRO' Mars Orbiter mission and NASA's MAVEN would complement each other.

NASA's Mars-bound spacecraft, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutionN (MAVEN) was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket in the early hours today from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.

MAVEN is the second mission for NASA’s Mars Scout Program and is likely to obtain critical measurements of the Martian upper atmosphere to help understand the climate change over the red planet's history.

MAVEN carries eight instruments - Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, Magnetometer, Solar Wind Electron Analyzer, SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Composition, Langmuir Probe and Waves antenna, Solar Energetic Particles and Solar Wind Ion Analyzer.

After having successfully completed five orbit raising manoeuvres on its Mars Orbiter, ISRO is expected to perform the crucial event of trans Martian injection of the spacecraft in the early hours of December 1.

The spacecraft will reach the red planet's orbit by September 24, 2014 after an over 10 month voyage.

ISRO's PSLV-C25 successfully injected 1,350-kg Mangalyaan Orbiter (Mars craft) into orbit around Earth some 44 minutes after launch at 2.38 PM from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on November 5, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450 crore mission.