NASA Launches Rocket Carrying MAVEN To Mars
NASA Launches Rocket Carrying MAVEN To Mars
Photo Credit NASA launches robotic explorer to Mars – Connecticut Post
It was a moment of “euphoria” Monday when NASA launched the next phase in Mars exploration without a hitch, said Rich Zurek.
The chief scientist in the Mars Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Zurek watched at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., as NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission lifted off at 10:28 a.m. PST to begin its 10-month trek toward the Red Planet to investigate the history of its atmosphere.
“Right now, it’s pretty much overcast and slightly sprinkling, so it got off the ground just in time,” said Zurek, co-investigator for the accelerometer on the MAVEN mission. “It’s got power, and looks like it’s well on its way to Mars.”
With Monday’s launch, the spacecraft began a journey of more than 440 million miles due to its trajectory and the constantly moving planets. Once it arrives above the Red Planet on Sept. 22, it will investigate the depleted atmosphere of the cold, dry red planet we know today, when evidence suggests it was once warm with flowing waters. MAVEN will research gases in the atmosphere for a year using eight instruments.
Published on Nov 18, 2013
At 1:28 PM Eastern Monday, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft blasted off on a mission to explore Mars’ atmosphere.
The new robotic orbiter launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a trip of more than 440 million miles .
MAVEN – or the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission – is set to reach Mars in September 2014.
Once it gets there, the orbiter will spend a year’s Earth time looking for clues to better understand the planet’s radical climate change from warm and wet to cold and dry.
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins spoke from the International Space Station – before the launch.
(SOUNDBITE) NASA flight engineer Mike Hopkins SAYING:
“Like a lot of the research we are conducting on the International Space Station, understanding the Red Planet’s atmosphere is essential to NASA’s goal of safely sending humans there one day.”
NASA says the mission has a pricetag of $671 million.
You can also visit me at:
.png)
Be AWARE and be PREPARED, FEAR is not an option. Be safe everyone…
