Latest Maven Stories

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA has announced a new campaign that will send people to Mars this year – well, at least their names and a brief message. The space agency is inviting people to submit their names online along with a personal message for a DVD to be carried aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft that will be launched later this year. The DVD will carry every name submitted and three brief accompanying messages that...

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scheduled for launch in November, the DVD will be in NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft. The DVD is part of the mission's Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA’s Curiosity rover has been busy searching for signs that life may have once existed on the Red Planet. In the eight months since NASA dropped the rover on Mars, it has made significant progress in the hunt for water and life. In the latest round of evidence pertaining to Mars’ past, new measurements from Curiosity point towards the sky. These measurements, which consisted of analysis of Argon atoms in the planet’s air,...

NASA An instrument that will measure the composition of Mars' upper atmosphere has been integrated into NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. MAVEN has a scheduled launch date of Nov. 18. Engineers and scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in collaboration with partners at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Battel Engineering, Scottsdale, Ariz., and AMU Engineering, Miami, Fla., built the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer...

NASA Science [ Watch the Video ScienceCasts: Collision Course? ] Over the years, the spacefaring nations of Earth have sent dozens of probes and rovers to explore Mars. Today there are three active satellites circling the red planet while two rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, wheel across the red sands below. Mars is dry, barren, and apparently lifeless. Soon, those assets could find themselves exploring a very different kind of world. "There is a small but non-negligible chance...

WATCH VIDEO: [NASA | MAVEN Magnetometer] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is scheduled for launch later this year, and with it will launch an instrument designed to study Mars' magnetic field. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission will be carrying a sensitive magnetic-field instrument that will help investigate what remains of Mars' magnetic "shield." This Maven magnetometer will be playing a key role in studying the...

NASA The six science instruments that comprise the Particles and Fields Package that will characterize the solar wind and ionosphere of Mars have been integrated aboard NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. The spacecraft is on track for launch later this year. The Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) was the last of the six instruments to be delivered, and was integrated late last week at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colo. SWEA measures the properties of...

NASA NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft is assembled and is undergoing environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities, near Denver, Colo. MAVEN is the next mission to Mars and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. During the environmental testing phase, the orbiter will undergo a variety of rigorous tests that simulate the extreme temperatures, vacuum and vibration the spacecraft will...

GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft is assembled and is undergoing environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities, near Denver, Colo. MAVEN is the next mission to Mars and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) During the environmental testing phase, the orbiter will undergo a...

DENVER, Feb. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has completed the assembly of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. The orbiter is now undergoing environmental testing at the company's Space Systems facilities, near Denver, Colo. MAVEN is the next mission to Mars and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. Photo and video of MAVEN:...