MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – NASA experts have begun preparations for the launch of a space probe designed to study the upper atmosphere of Mars, the US space agency said in a press release on its website.
The launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatiles Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is scheduled in a 20-day period starting on November 18.
“Scientists expect to obtain unprecedented data that will help them understand how the loss of atmospheric gas to space may have played a part in changing the planet's [Mars] climate,” NASA said in a statement on Monday.
According to NASA, the planned one-year mission will begin with the spacecraft entering the Red Planet's orbit in September 2014.
"MAVEN is not going to detect life," NASA quoted Bruce Jakosky, planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and MAVEN's principal investigator. "But it will help us understand the climate history, which is the history of its habitability."
MAVEN weighs 1,784 pounds (802 kg) and will be launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V-401 rocket.
NASA’s current missions to the Red Planet include Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, two exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and much-touted Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover.
These missions, however, focus on the study of the planet’s surface.
