US launches spacecraft to explore Martian atmosphere

MAVEN has a one-Earth-year primary mission, during which it will make measurements in all regions of "near-Mars" space, including five deep dip maneuvers, descending to an altitude of 120 km, the lower boundary of the planet's upper atmosphere.


The spacecraft will carry three instrument suites. The Particles and Fields Package contains six instruments to characterise the solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars.

The Remote Sensing Package will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer will measure the composition of Mars' upper atmosphere.