“Billions of years ago when the Red Planet was young, it appears to have had a thick atmosphere that was warm enough to support oceans of liquid water – a critical ingredient for life. The animation shows how the surface of Mars might have appeared during this ancient clement period, beginning with a flyover of a Martian lake. The artist\’s concept is based on evidence that Mars was once very different. Rapidly moving clouds suggest the passage of time, and the shift from a warm and wet to a cold and dry climate is shown as the animation progresses. The lakes dry up, while the atmosphere gradually transitions from Earthlike blue skies to the dusty pink and tan hues seen on Mars today. “
“The first free flight of a Morpheus prototype lander was conducted December 10, 2013, at Kennedy Space Center\’s Shuttle Landing Facility. The 54-second test began with the Morpheus lander launching from the ground over a flame trench and ascending approximately 50 feet, then hovering for about 15 seconds. The lander then flew forward and landed on its pad about 23 feet from the launch point. Project Morpheus integrates NASA\’s automated landing and hazard avoidance technology (ALHAT) with an engine that runs on liquid oxygen and methane, or “green” propellants, into a fully operational lander that could deliver cargo to asteroids and other planetary surfaces. “
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) is a space probe designed to study the Martian atmosphere while orbiting Mars. Mission goals include determining how the Martian atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.
MAVEN was successfully launched aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle at the beginning of the first launch window on November 18, 2013. Following the first engine burn of the Centaur second stage, the vehicle coasted in low-Earth orbit for 27 minutes before a second Centaur burn of five minutes to insert it into a heliocentric Mars transit orbit. On September 22, 2014, the plan is for MAVEN to be inserted into an orbit around Mars: an areocentric elliptic orbit 6,200 km (3,900 mi) by 150 km (93 mi) above Mars\’ surface. The principal investigator for the spacecraft is Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The mission was spawned by NASA\’s Mars Scout Program, which, although discontinued in 2010, yielded Phoenix, MAVEN, and numerous missions\’ studies. Mars Scout missions target a cost of less than US$485 million, not including launch services, which cost approximately $187 million.
On September 15, 2008 NASA announced that it had selected MAVEN to be the Mars Scout 2013 mission. There was one other finalist and eight other proposals that were competing against MAVEN. On August 2, 2013, the MAVEN spacecraft arrived at Kennedy Space Center Florida to begin launch preparations. NASA scheduled the launch of MAVEN from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 18, 2013, using an Atlas V 401 rocket. The probe is expected to arrive in Mars\’ orbit in September 2014, at approximately the same time as India\’s Mars Orbiter Mission.
“Expedition 37 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan on November 11, local time. The trio completed 166 days in space since launching in late May. Returning to Earth with the crew was the Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The torch was delivered to the station November 7 for its brief stay by Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.”
“The Soyuz spacecraft and its booster were moved to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a railcar November 5 for final preparations before launch to the International Space Station on November 7. The Soyuz TMA-11M carried Expedition 38/39 Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the space station.”
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