Tag Archives: MAVEN

MAVEN observations on dust storms

Posted on June 12, 2018 by rburnham

The Opportunity rover has proven hardier than expected by operating for nearly 15 years, despite being designed for a 90-day mission. The rover regularly deals with intense dust storms at the surface of the Red Planet and occasionally has to … Continue reading →

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MAVEN: Solar storms speed oxygen loss from Mars atmosphere

Posted on June 4, 2018 by rburnham

In September 2017, a series of moderate to extreme flares jetted outward from the Sun’s surface. Among them was a monster X8.2 class flare that occurred on 10 September and was one of the largest flares of the current, but … Continue reading →

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MAVEN: Solar storms speed hydrogen loss from Mars atmosphere

Posted on May 17, 2018 by rburnham

Newly published MAVEN results indicate that atmospheric escape of hydrogen during a strong solar storm that impacted Mars in September 2017 was comparable to the seasonal escape of hydrogen over a full Martian year… [More at link]

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MAVEN: Deep-dip campaign #9 completed

Posted on May 4, 2018 by rburnham

MAVEN has successfully completed the 9th deep dip campaign of the mission. Two walk-out maneuvers were performed to raise the periapsis (closest approach to Mars) of the spacecraft by 33 km: ● The first maneuver was performed on May 1. … Continue reading →

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MAVEN: Deep-dip campaign #9 begins

Posted on April 27, 2018 by rburnham

MAVEN has begun its ninth deep dip campaign by performing two entry maneuvers to place the spacecraft into a corridor where Mars’ atmospheric density is between 2.0 – 3.5 kg/km³. The two deep dip entry maneuvers consisted of a 4.5 … Continue reading →

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MAVEN webinar: Do habitable worlds require magnetic fields?

Posted on April 12, 2018 by rburnham

[The MAVEN mission is holding a public webinar on April 18, 2018, at 7 p.m. Eastern; 4 p.m. Pacific.] What does it take for a planet to be hospitable for life? Join MAVEN Co-Investigator Dr. Dave Brain of the Laboratory … Continue reading →

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MAVEN: Meteoric metal chemistry in Mars’ atmosphere

Posted on February 8, 2018 by rburnham

When dust particles enter the Mars’ atmosphere, collisions with air molecules cause heating and evaporation, and the continuous injection of metal atoms and ions into Mars’ atmosphere. The MAVEN Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, or IUVS, instrument has detected a layer of … Continue reading →

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How the solar wind interacts with Mars

Posted on January 17, 2018 by rburnham

Mars, without a strong internal dipole magnetic field, is a place where the supersonic solar wind directly contacts the planet’s upper atmosphere. Using a large set of data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, [a paper published … Continue reading →

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Curiosity update: Image overload!

Posted on January 11, 2018 by rburnham

Sol 1931-33, January 11, 2018, update by MSL scientist Mark Salvatore: Curiosity has made it to “Region e” of the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) campaign. This location is a slight depression with exposed fractured bedrock that appears more “blue” from orbit … Continue reading →

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MAVEN mission update

Posted on January 10, 2018 by rburnham

MAVEN Principal Investigator, Bruce Jakosky, provides an update on the mission during this discussion with NASA Planetary Science Director, Jim Green. The segment of the “Gravity Assist” podcast that includes Bruce talking about Mars and MAVEN can be heard here: … Continue reading →

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