NASA's craft enters Mars' orbit

The orbiter, which arrived on Mars after a 10-month journey, will study the planet's upper atmosphere

Two days before the scheduled arrival of Isro's Mars Orbiter Mission on Mars, NASA's Maven spacecraft arrived on the red planet after a 10 month journey. 

 

The spacecraft, which started orbiting Mars on Sunday, is on a mission to study the planet's upper atmosphere. 

 

"Based on observed navigation data, congratulations, Maven is now in Mars orbit," said NASA in an official announcement. 

 

The unmanned orbiter travelled for more than 10 months and 442 million miles (711 million kilometers) to reach Mars. 

The data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) spacecraft aims to help scientists understand what happened to the water on Mars and the carbon dioxide in its atmosphere several billion years ago. How Mars lost its atmosphere is one of science's biggest mysteries. The answers could shed light on the planet's potential to support life - even if that was just microbial life - long ago. 

 

Maven's findings are also expected to help add to knowledge of how humans could survive on a future visit to the Red Planet, perhaps as early as 2030. 

 

"Mars is a cool place, but there is not much atmosphere," said John Clarke, of the Maven science team. "But we know that Mars could change and it was probably different in the past. There is a lot of evidence of flowing water on the surface of Mars." 

 

Next, Maven will enter a six-week phase for tests. Then, it begins a one-year mission of studying the gases in Mars's upper atmosphere and how it interacts with the sun and solar wind. Much of Maven's year-long mission will be spent circling the planet 3,730 miles above the surface. 

 

However, it will execute five deep dips to a distance of just 78 miles above the Martian landscape to get readings of the atmosphere at various levels. 

 

Meanwhile, Isro's Mars Orbiter Mission has entered the gravitational sphere of influence of Mars. On Monday, Isro scientists will run a test of a main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months.

 

The ambitious Mars mission under a Rs 450-crore project was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 last year with an aim to reach the red planet's atmosphere by September 24.