SPACE — On November 18, 2013, NASA launched the MAVEN spacecraft to Mars. The name MAVEN is an abbreviation of Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution.
The spaceship will orbit Planet Planet. It is designed to help scientists find out what happened to Mars’ water and atmosphere.
Currently, Mars is dry, but data from several Mars missions shows that the Martian environment had a much wetter history. The Red Planet has a super thin atmosphere that has been leaking into space for billions of years.
Scientists think the water on Mars’ surface dried up as it lost its atmosphere. Therefore, MAVEN will track the rate of loss of that atmosphere from Mars.
Also Read: Green Oxygen Light Seen in the Martian Atmosphere at Night, This is the Scientist’s Explanation
MAVEN found that a solar storm that threw radiation into the solar system had destroyed part of the Martian atmosphere. Previously, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had made Mars warm enough to hold water. However, the loss of greenhouse gases turned Mars into a cold and dry place.
The MAVEN science mission ended in 2016. But the spacecraft is still used to relay communications with other missions on Mars. Source: Space.com
2023-11-18 14:01:00
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