MAVEN

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

MAVEN was sent to solve a planetary murder mystery: how Mars, once warm enough for rivers and lakes, lost almost all of its air and became the cold, near-airless desert we see today. Its name stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN. Launched by NASA on 18 November 2013 and in orbit since 21 September 2014, the spacecraft was built not to study the surface but the tenuous upper atmosphere and the way it leaks into space. Mars, unlike Earth, has no global magnetic field to shield it, and MAVEN found the culprit at work: the solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun — strips gas from the top of the atmosphere and carries it away, a process that accelerates dramatically during solar storms. By measuring how fast Mars is losing its air now, scientists can run the clock backwards and reconstruct how a once-thick atmosphere thinned over billions of years, allowing the planet's water to freeze or escape. To sample different layers MAVEN periodically lowers its orbit in 'deep dip' campaigns that skim the upper atmosphere. Beyond its own science, the orbiter has become a key communications relay for the rovers on the surface, and its long watch on Martian space weather helps protect future missions — including, one day, human explorers.

1. 2013Launch toward MarsLaunch

   MAVEN sets off to study how Mars lost its atmosphere to space.

2. 2014Mars orbit insertionArrival

   The orbiter settles into an elliptical path that lets it sample the upper atmosphere.

3. 2015Solar wind caught stripping the airMilestone

   MAVEN measures the Sun's wind tearing gas from the top of the atmosphere, especially during storms.

4. 2019Orbit lowered for relay dutyMilestone

   MAVEN tightens its orbit to serve as a communications relay for rovers on the surface.

Images

Images from open archives · credit shown per image