The MAVEN Mission to Mars

NASA’s next mission to Mars, MAVEN, is schedule for launch in Nov. 2013. It is designed to study the escape of the thin martian atmosphere into space, which is key to understanding the history of water on Mars. Prof. Clarke has been part of the MAVEN science team since 2005, and Professors Mendillo and Withers have recently been selected as participating scientists. When MAVEN goes into martian orbit in Sept. 2014, we will be very active in analyzing data on the ionosphere and extended H and O atmospheres, or corona (see Hubble image at right). The H and O atoms resulting from the breakup of water by solar UV radiation can escape into space by many processes (lower left), and the MAVEN spacecraft (lower right) will fly through these regions directly sampling the escaping atmosphere (lower center).