MAVEN (spacecraft)

Infobox_Spacecraft
Name = Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)


Caption = Artist's Concept of MAVEN. Credit: NASA.
Organization = NASA
Major_Contractors = Lockheed Martin Space Systems, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of California, Berkeley, Goddard Space Flight Center
Mission_Type = Orbiter
Satellite_Of = Mars
Orbital_Insertion_Date =
Launch = Launch window between November 18, 2013 and December 7, 2013
Launch_Vehicle =
Decay =
Mission_Duration = 2 years
NSSDC_ID =
Webpage =
Mass =
Power =
Orbital_elements =
Semimajor_Axis =
Eccentricity =
Inclination = 75º
Orbital_Period = 4.5 hours
Apoapsis =
Periapsis = 150 km
Orbits =

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) is a space exploration mission to send a space probe to Mars as part of NASA's Mars Scout Program. Scientists conducting the mission will study the atmosphere of Mars. The principal investigator for MAVEN is Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Program overview

On September 15, 2008 NASA announced that it had selected MAVEN to be the Mars Scout 2013 mission, a part of the Mars Scout Program. [ [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/maven_20080915.html NASA Selects 'MAVEN' Mission to Study Mars Atmosphere] ] There was one other finalist and eight other proposals that were competing against MAVEN to be the Mars Scout 2013 mission. MAVEN will be launched in late 2013 and is planned to arrive in Mars orbit during the fall of 2014. MAVEN will enter into an elliptic orbit 90 to 3,870 miles above the planet's surface. MAVEN will cost US$485 million.

MAVEN will have four primary scientific objectives: 1) Determine the role that loss of volatiles from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time; 2) Determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind; 3) Determine the current rates of escape of neutrals and ions to space and the processes controlling them, and; 4) Determine the ratios of stable isotopes in the Martian atmosphere. [ [http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/docs/MAVEN_fact_sheet.pdf MAVEN Fact Sheet] ]

NASA will launch MAVEN using an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. The launch window is between November 18, 2013 and December 7, 2013. Assuming a November 18 launch, MAVEN will be inserted into Mars orbit on September 16, 2014.

Hardware overview

MAVEN's design will be based off of those of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

Scientific instruments

MAVEN will study Mars' upper atmosphere and how it interacts with the Sun. It will carry instruments to measure characteristics of Mars' atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, solar wind, and ionosphere. [ [http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20080915/NEWS/809159935&parentprofile=search CU chosen for $485M Mars exploration project] ] The University of Colorado at Boulder, University of California, Berkeley and Goddard Space Flight Center will each build a suite of instruments to fly on the spacecraft.

The instrument suites will include:
* Particles and Field (P&F) Package
**Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA)-Measures solar wind and ionospheric electrons
**Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA)-Measures solar wind and magnetosheath ion density and velocity
**Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC)-Measures thermal ions to moderate-energy escaping ions
**Solar Energetic Particle (SEP)-Determines the impact of SEPs on the upper atmosphere
**Lagmuir Probe and Waves (LPW)-Determines ionospheric properties and wave heating of escaping ions and solar EUV input to atmosphere
**Magnetometer (MAG)-Measures interplanetary solar wind and ionospheric magnetic fields
*Remote Sensing (RS) Package
**Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer (IUVS)-Measures global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere
*Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS)
**Measures the composition and isotopes of thermal neutrals and ions

References