NASA launches new spacecraft to orbit Mars - WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida


NASA launches new spacecraft to orbit Mars

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Kim Shiflett/NASA Kim Shiflett/NASA

(CNN) -- You may have heard it before: Billions of years ago, Mars probably looked more like Earth does now, with clouds and oceans and a much thicker atmosphere. It may even have had some type of microbes. But now it's a barren, frozen desert.

So what happened? Where did the air and water go?

NASA on Monday launched a spacecraft to try to find out. It's called MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution. It's the first mission dedicated to studying the red planet's upper atmosphere.


MAVEN lifted off shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, starting a 10-month trip to Mars. It's scheduled to arrive on September 22, 2014.

The solar-powered probe is about the length of school bus -- 37.5 feet (11.43 meters) -- and will weigh about 5,410 pounds (2,454 kilograms) at launch.


He says he's "excited that we're providing one step along the path of answering questions about whether life ever existed on Mars."

Jakosky's team will use the spacecraft's three instrument suites in hopes of determining three things about Mars:

• The composition of its upper atmosphere

• How fast it's losing what's left of its atmosphere

• The history of the atmosphere

MAVEN won't make a cool, daring landing like the Mars Curiosity Rover, which has been roaming Mars for more than a year now. Instead, it will orbit between a low of about 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the surface to a high of about 3,728 miles (6,000 kilometers). It also will make five dives, flying as low as 77 miles (125 kilometers) in altitude.

NASA says the mission will cost $671 million.
