NASA MAVEN Mars Probe Beams Home First Results

MAVEN spacecraft orbits Mars in this artist's illustration. Image released Oct. 14, 2014. 

Credit: University of Colorado/NASA

NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter has been busy since it arrived at the Red Planet late last month.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (MAVEN) is designed to probe Mars' thin atmosphere, to help scientists understand what caused the planet to change from a warm, wet world long ago to the cold and dry one it is today. 

The spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars on Sept. 21, and it has already beamed back some amazing new data about Mars' upper atmosphere, researchers said.

In MAVEN's first few weeks of instrument testing at the Red Planet, scientists have already created some of the most complete maps of atomic hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and ozone in the Martian atmosphere ever made. 

One of MAVEN's instruments even collected data as energetic particles blasted out by a massive solar eruption made it to Mars. 


MAVEN is still in the "commissioning phase" of its mission, meaning that the probe hasn't started collecting science full-time. 

The new data were gathered as the spacecraft's ground controllers began turning on its instruments after it arrived at Mars.

This graph shows atomic hydrogen scattering ultraviolet sunlight in the upper atmosphere of Mars, with data obtained by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph. 

Credit: University of Colorado, NASA


Scientists working with MAVEN weren't able to see exactly how the solar energetic particles (SEPs) affected Mars' atmosphere on Sept. 29 because the instruments necessary for that kind of observation weren't functioning in tandem at that time. 

MAVEN researchers expect, however, that the spacecraft's instruments will be ready to observe the atmosphere during the next Mars-directed solar event.

"After traveling through interplanetary space, these energetic particles of mostly protons deposit their energy in the upper atmosphere of Mars," SEP instrument lead Davin Larson, of the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, said in a statement. 

"An SEP event like this typically occurs every couple weeks. Once all the instruments are turned on, we expect to also be able to track the response of the upper atmosphere to them."

This image shows atomic carbon scattering ultraviolet sunlight in the upper atmosphere of Mars, as observed by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph. A red circle indicates Mars. Sunlight illuminates the planet from the right.

Credit: University of Colorado; NASA

This image shows atomic oxygen scattering ultraviolet sunlight in the upper atmosphere of Mars, as observed by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph. 

Most oxygen appears trapped near the planet, marked by the red circle.

Credit: University of Colorado; NASA