Tag Archives: MAVEN

First MAVEN science data released

The first release of some of the early MAVEN science data is now available on the NASA Planetary Data System site: https://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/subscription_service/SS-20150603.shtml [More at link]

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Solar conjunction: mission communications pause

In June 2015, Mars will swing almost directly behind the sun from Earth’s perspective, and this celestial geometry will lead to diminished communications with spacecraft at Mars. The arrangement of the sun between Earth and Mars is called Mars solar … Continue reading

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Blue, red, and green aurorae should be naked-eye visible in Martian sky

For the first time, an international team of scientists from NASA, the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (IPAG), the European Space Agency and Aalto University in Finland, have predicted that colorful, glowing aurorae can be seen by the … Continue reading

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Space traffic control at Mars

NASA has beefed up a process of traffic monitoring, communication and maneuver planning to ensure that Mars orbiters do not approach each other too closely. Last year’s addition of two new spacecraft orbiting Mars brought the census of active Mars … Continue reading

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Early results from MAVEN [video]

The MAVEN mission is designed to explore Mars’ upper atmosphere and its interactions with the Sun and solar wind. The goal of MAVEN is to understand the processes controlling the structure and composition of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of … Continue reading

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MAVEN: Second deep-dip campaign completed

The second “deep-dip” campaign of MAVEN’s primary science mission was successfully carried out this week. After the five-day campaign, which brought the MAVEN spacecraft down to a periapsis of 131.5km, MAVEN is now back in its nominal science mapping corridor. … Continue reading

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MAVEN completes first 1,000 orbits

MAVEN completed 1,000 orbits around the Red Planet on April 6, four-and-a-half months into its one-year primary mission. MAVEN is in its science-mapping orbit and has been taking data since the start of its primary mission on Nov. 16, 2014. … Continue reading

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MAVEN discovers aurora, high dust cloud at Mars

The MAVEN spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere. The presence of the dust at orbital altitudes from about 93 miles (150 kilometers) … Continue reading

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MAVEN: First deep-dip campaign completed

The MAVEN spacecraft has completed the first of five deep-dip maneuvers designed to gather measurements closer to the lower end of the Martian upper atmosphere. “During normal science mapping, we make measurements between an altitude of about 150 km and … Continue reading

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MAVEN: Collecting data in deep-dip maneuver

MAVEN instruments all collecting data as expected during deep-dip. The initial MAVEN deep-dip campaign continues to go well, as the NASA ‪#‎Mars‬ orbiter maintains its targeted atmospheric density corridor between 2.0 – 3.5 kg/km³. All of the MAVEN science instruments … Continue reading

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