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How NASA Kept MAVEN’s Launch Date During The Government Shutdown

Monday, November 18, 2013 5:07

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(Before It's News)

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft sits on an Atlas 5 rocket on Nov. 17, 2013, the day before its launch window opened. Shot taken at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

As NASA Social attendees gather for NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft’s date with space today, NASA administrator Charles Bolden recalled that time in October when it looked like MAVEN may have had to lose its launch window for two years because of the government shutdown.

“It was a very complicated process that we were engaged in, back in Washington, where the term used was ‘accepted activity’,” Bolden said in an interview with Universe Today.

For launch preparations to proceed during that 16-day shutdown, Bolden and other officials engaged in the mission needed to make the case that MAVEN was vital. The mission’s science focus, examining the atmosphere of Mars and tracking down the planet’s lost water, is usually what is talked about when justifying its activities to the public.

It was a different argument, however, that got MAVEN’s launch preparations on track: “imminent risk to life or property,” Bolden said, specifically with regard to its role in sending huge data files from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers on the surface (as well as the forthcoming Mars 2020 rover, if that gets off the ground.)

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Read the rest of How NASA Kept MAVEN’s Launch Date During The Government Shutdown (752 words)

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