MAVEN

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) is a spacecraft developed by NASA to investigate the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars and how the solar wind strips volatile compounds from this atmosphere. This research gives insight into how the planet's climate has changed over time. The principal investigator for the spacecraft is Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.[3] The project cost $582.5 million to build, launch, and operate through its 2-year prime mission.[4]

This article is about the Mars orbiter. For other uses, see Maven (disambiguation).

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution
Artist's rendering of the MAVEN spacecraft bus
Mission typeMars atmospheric research
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2013-063A
SATCAT no.39378
WebsiteNASA MAVEN
Mission duration1 Earth year.
Science phase extended indefinitely.
Operating as telecomm relay from 2019.
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerLockheed Martin
CU Boulder
Berkeley
NASA GSFC
Launch mass2,454 kg (5,410 lb)
Dry mass809 kg (1,784 lb)
Payload mass65 kg (143 lb)
Power1,135 W[1]
Start of mission
Launch dateNovember 18, 2013, 18:28 UTC
RocketAtlas V 401 AV-038
Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC-41
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference systemAreocentric (Mars)
Periapsis altitude150 km (93 mi)
Apoapsis altitude6,200 km (3,900 mi)
Inclination75°
Period4.5 hours
EpochPlanned
Mars orbiter
Orbital insertionSeptember 22, 2014, 02:24 UTC[2]
MSD 50025 08:07 AMT
 

The name is a deliberate use of the word maven, "a person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert".[5][6]

Pre-Launch
MAVEN – Atlas V ignition (November 18, 2013).

Proposed in 2006, the mission was the second of NASA's Mars Scout Program, which had previously yielded Phoenix. It was selected for development for flight in 2008.[7]

On August 2, 2013, the MAVEN spacecraft arrived at Kennedy Space Center Florida to begin launch preparations.[8]

On October 1, 2013, only seven weeks before launch, a government shutdown caused suspension of work for two days and initially threatened to force a 26-month postponement of the mission. With the spacecraft nominally scheduled to launch on November 18, a delay beyond December 7 would have caused MAVEN to miss the launch window as Mars moved too far out of alignment with the Earth. However, two days later, a public announcement was made that NASA had deemed the 2013 MAVEN launch so essential to ensuring future communication with current NASA assets on Mars—the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers—that emergency funding was authorized to restart spacecraft processing in preparation for an on-time launch.[9]

Objectives

Features on Mars that resemble dry riverbeds and the discovery of minerals that form in the presence of water indicate that Mars once had a dense enough atmosphere and was warm enough for liquid water to flow on the surface. However, that thick atmosphere was somehow lost to space. Scientists suspect that over millions of years, Mars lost 99% of its atmosphere as the planet's core cooled and its magnetic field decayed, allowing the solar wind to sweep away most of the water and volatile compounds that the atmosphere once contained.[10] The goal of MAVEN is to determine the history of the loss of atmospheric gases to space, providing answers about Martian climate evolution. By measuring the rate with which the atmosphere is currently escaping to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes, scientists will be able to infer how the planet's atmosphere evolved over time. The MAVEN mission's primary scientific objectives are:

  1. Measure the composition and structure of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere today, and determine the processes responsible for controlling them.
  2. Measure the rate of loss of gas from the top of the atmosphere to space, and determine the processes responsible for controlling them.
  3. Determine properties and characteristics that will allow us to extrapolate backwards in time to determine the integrated loss to space over the four-billion-year history recorded in the geological record.[7]

Timeline

MAVEN launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 18, 2013, using an Atlas V 401 rocket.[11][12] It reached Mars on September 22, 2014, and was inserted into an elliptic orbit approximately 6,200 km (3,900 mi) by 150 km (93 mi) above the planet's surface.[12]

In October 2014, as the spacecraft was being fine-tuned to start its primary science mission, the Comet Siding Spring was also performing a close flyby of Mars. The researchers had to maneuver the craft to mitigate harmful effects of the comet, but while doing so, were able to observe the comet and perform measurements on the composition of expelled gases and dust.[13]

On November 16, 2014, investigators completed MAVEN's commissioning activities and began its primary science mission, scheduled to last one year.[14] During that time, MAVEN had observed a nearby comet, measured how volatile gases are swept away by solar wind, and performed four "deep dips" down to the border of the upper and lower atmospheres to better characterize the planet's entire upper atmosphere.[15] In June 2015, the science phase was extended through September 2016, allowing MAVEN to observe the Martian atmosphere through the entirety of the planet's seasons.[16]

On October 3, 2016, MAVEN completed one full Mars' year of scientific observations. It had been approved for an additional 2-year extended mission through September 2018. All spacecraft systems were still operating as expected.[17]

In March 2017, MAVEN's investigators had to perform a previously unscheduled maneuver to avoid colliding with Phobos the following week.[18]

On April 5, 2019, the navigation team completed a 2-month aerobraking maneuver to lower MAVEN's orbit and enable it to better serve as a communications relay for current landers as well as Mars Perseverance. This new elliptic orbit is approximately 4,500 km (2,800 mi) by 130 km (80 mi). With 6.6 orbits per Earth day, the lower orbit allows more frequent communication with rovers.[19]

As of September 2020, the spacecraft is continuing its science mission as well, with all instruments still operating and with enough fuel to last at least until 2030.[19]

MAVEN aerobraking to a lower orbit – in preparation for the Mars 2020 mission. (February 2019)

Spacecraft overview

MAVEN was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Its design is based on those of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The orbiter has a cubical shape of about 2.3 m × 2.3 m × 2 m (7.5 ft × 7.5 ft × 6.6 ft) high,[20] with two solar arrays that hold the magnetometers on both ends. The total length is 11.4 m (37 ft).[21]

Relay telecommunications
MAVEN's Electra UHF radio transceiver.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory provided an Electra ultra high frequency (UHF) relay radio payload which has a data return rate of up to 2048 kbit/s.[22] The highly elliptical orbit of the MAVEN spacecraft may limit its usefulness as a relay for operating landers on the surface, although the long view periods of MAVEN's orbit have afforded some of the largest relay data returns to date of any Mars orbiter.[23] During the mission's first year of operations at Mars — the primary science phase — MAVEN served as a backup relay orbiter. In the extended mission period of up to ten years, MAVEN will provide UHF relay service for present and future Mars rovers and landers.[16]

Scientific instruments
Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) – measures solar wind and ionosphere electrons.
MAVEN's magnetometer.
MAVEN's SEP instrument.

The University of Colorado Boulder, University of California, Berkeley, and Goddard Space Flight Center each built a suite of instruments for the spacecraft, and they include:[24]

Built by the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory:

  • Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA)[25] – measures solar wind and ionosphere electrons. The goals of SWEA with respect to MAVEN are to deduce magneto-plasma topology in and above the ionosphere, and to measure atmospheric electron impact ionization effects.[26]
  • Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA)[27] – measures solar wind and magnetosheath ion density and velocity. The SWIA therefore characterizes the nature of solar wind interactions within the upper atmosphere.
  • SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC)[28] – measures thermal ions to moderate-energy escaping ions. This provides information on the current ion escape rates from the atmosphere and how rates change during various atmospheric events.
  • Solar Energetic Particle (SEP)[29] – determines the impact of SEPs on the upper atmosphere. In context with the rest of this suite, it evaluates how SEP events affect upper atmospheric structure, temperature, dynamics and escape rates.

Built by the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics:

  • Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer (IUVS)[30] – measures global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The IUVS is one of the most powerful spectrographs sent to another planet. It boasts separate Far-UV and Mid-UV channels, a high resolution mode to distinguish deuterium from hydrogen, optimization for airglow studies, and capabilities that allow complete mapping and nearly continuous operation.[31]
  • Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) [32]– determines ionosphere properties and wave heating of escaping ions and solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) input to atmosphere. This instrument provides better characterization of the basic state of the ionosphere and can evaluate the effects of the solar wind on the ionosphere.

Built by Goddard Space Flight Center:

  • Magnetometer (MAG)[33] – measures interplanetary solar wind and ionosphere magnetic fields.
  • Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS)[34] - measures the composition and isotopes of neutral gases and ions. This instrument evaluates how the lower atmosphere can affect higher altitudes while also better characterizing the structure of the upper atmosphere from the homopause to the exobase.

SWEA, SWIA, STATIC, SEP, LPW, and MAG are part of the Particles and Fields instrument suite, IUVS is the Remote Sensing instrument suite, and NGIMS is its own eponymous suite.

Cost
MAVEN Development and Prime Mission Costs

MAVEN cost $582.5 million to build, launch, and operate for its prime mission, nearly $100 million less than originally estimated. Of this total, $366.8 million was for development, $187 million for launch services, and $28 million was for the 2-year prime mission. On average, NASA spends $20.5 million annually on MAVEN's extended operations.[4]

Results

Atmospheric loss

Mars loses water into its thin atmosphere by evaporation. There, solar radiation can split the water molecules into their components, hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen, as the lightest element, then tends to rise far up to the highest levels of the Martian atmosphere, where several processes can strip it away into space, to be forever lost to the planet. This loss was thought to proceed at a fairly constant rate, but MAVEN's observations of Mars' atmospheric hydrogen through a full Martian year (almost two Earth years) show that the escape rate is highest when Mars' orbit brings it closest to the Sun, and only one-tenth as great when it is at its farthest.[35]

On November 5, 2015, NASA announced that data from MAVEN shows that the deterioration of Mars' atmosphere increases significantly during solar storms. That loss of atmosphere to space likely played a key role in Mars' gradual shift from its carbon dioxide-dominated atmosphere – which had kept Mars relatively warm and allowed the planet to support liquid surface water – to the cold, arid planet seen today. This shift took place between about 4.2 and 3.7 billion years ago.[36] Atmospheric loss was especially notable during an interplanetary coronal mass ejection in March 2015. [37]

Mars – escaping atmosphere – carbon, oxygen, hydrogen (MAVEN; UV; October 14, 2014).[38]

Different types of aurorae

In 2014, MAVEN researchers detected widespread aurorae throughout the planet, even close to the equator. Given the localized magnetic fields on Mars (as opposed to Earth's global magnetic field), aurorae appear to form and distribute in different ways on Mars, creating what scientists call diffuse aurora. Researchers determined that the source of the particles causing the aurorae were a huge surge of electrons originating from the sun. These highly energetic particles were able to penetrate far deeper into Mars' atmosphere than they would have on Earth, creating aurorae much closer to the surface of the planet (~60km as opposed to 100-500km on Earth). [39]

Scientists also discovered proton aurorae, different than the so-called typical aurora which is produced by electrons. Proton aurorae were previously only detected on Earth. [40]

Interaction with a comet

The fortuitous arrival of MAVEN just before a flyby of the comet Siding Spring gave researchers a unique opportunity to observe both the comet itself as well as its interactions with the Martian atmosphere. The spacecraft's IUVS instrument detected intense ultraviolet emission from magnesium and iron ions, a result from the comet's meteor shower much stronger than anything ever detected on Earth. [41] The NGIMS instrument was able to directly sample dust from this Oort Cloud comet, detecting at least eight different types of metal ions.[42]

Detection of metal ions

In 2017, results were published detailing the detection of metal ions in Mars' ionosphere. This is the first time metal ions have been detected in any planet's atmosphere other than Earth's. It was also noted that these ions behave and are distributed differently in the atmosphere of Mars given that the red planet has a much weaker magnetic field than our own. [43]

Impacts on future exploration

In September 2017, NASA reported a temporary doubling of radiation levels on the surface of Mars, as well as an aurora 25 times brighter than any observed earlier. This occurred due to a massive, and unexpected, solar storm.[44] The observation provided insight into how changes in radiation levels might impact the planet's habitability, helping NASA researchers understand how to predict as well as mitigate effects on future human Mars explorers.

See also

References
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  2. Brown, Dwayne; Neal-Jones, Nancy; Zubritsky, Elizabeth (September 21, 2014). "NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet". NASA. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  3. "MAVEN Fact Sheet" (PDF).
  4. "The Planetary Exploration Budget Dataset". www.planetary.org. The Planetary Society. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  5. "NASA's MAVEN Mission @MAVEN2Mars". Twitter.com. Retrieved March 7, 2015. Fittingly, from #Hebrew, via #Yiddish, a "maven" is a trusted expert who understands and seeks to pass knowledge on to others. #MAVEN #Mars
  6. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2000. p. 1082. ISBN 0-395-82517-2. Retrieved March 7, 2015. A person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert.
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  9. Jakosky, Bruce (September 20, 2013). "MAVEN reactivation status update". Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  10. MAVEN Mission to Investigate How Sun Steals Martian Atmosphere By Bill Steigerwald (October 5, 2010)
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  13. mars.nasa.gov. "NASA's MAVEN Studies Passing Comet and Its Effects". NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
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  16. MAVEN – FAQ. NASA.
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  19. "MAVEN » MAVEN Uses Red Planet's Atmosphere to Change Orbit". Retrieved September 25, 2020.
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  21. MAVEN – Facts
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  44. Scott, Jim (September 30, 2017). "Large solar storm sparks global aurora and doubles radiation levels on the martian surface". Phys.org. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
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