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Animation of MAVEN orbiting Mars
September 22, 2014
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NASA
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MAVEN will use its Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer to study the interaction of neutral gases and ions in the Martian atmosphere with the solar wind, helping scientists to understand how Mars ...
Searching for Mars' Missing Atmosphere
This artist's concept depicts the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft scanning the upper atmosphere of Mars. IUVS uses limb scans to map the chemical makeup and verti...
Artist's Concept of MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph at Work
For optimal performance, it’s important for the high-gain antenna to maintain a consistent temperature while the spacecraft experiences large temperature swings from being exposed to the Sun or in ...
MAVEN High-Gain Antenna WIth Radome
This is an image of the ultraviolet “nightglow” in the Martian atmosphere. Green and white false colors represent the intensity of ultraviolet light, with white being the brightest.
Ultraviolet ‘Nightglow' of Mars Atmosphere
MAVEN selfie composite, annotated
MAVEN Selfie Composite, Annotated
MAVEN's Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph obtained images of rapid cloud formation on Mars on July 9-10, 2016.
MAVEN Captures Rapid Cloud Formation
Download the PDF or PPT of the MAVEN Overview Presentation.
Maven Overview Presentation
The Magnetometer (MAG) is a part of the Particles and Fields (P & F) Package and measures interplanetary solar wind and ionospheric magnetic fields.
MAVEN Magnetometer
This artist's concept depicts the early Martian environment (left) - believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere - versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (right).
The Look of a Young Mars
This is a side view of an artist's conception of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution MissioN (MAVEN) Mars orbiter.
Artist's Concept of MAVEN side view
Artist's conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars. Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magne...
Artist's Conception of the Magnetic Field Environment at Mars
Ultraviolet images from NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, MAVEN, were used to make this movie of rapid cloud formation on Mars.
Ultraviolet Mars Reveals Cloud Formation
A large dust storm on Mars, nearly twice the size of the United States, covered the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet in early January 2022, leading to some of NASA’s explorers on the surface h...
Mars Report: Dust Storms on Mars
The Martian surface bears ample evidence of flowing water in its youth, from crater lakes and riverbeds to minerals that only form in water. But today Mars is cold and dry, and scientists think tha...
Investigating the Martian Atmosphere
Three views of an escaping atmosphere, obtained by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph.
MAVEN Observing Water and Carbon Dioxide Breakdown
The Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft sits at the launch pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after rolling out from Space Launch Co...
MAVEN at the Launch Pad
This animation first shows Curiosity working to understand Mars as a past habitat, with a cut to MAVEN arriving at Mars to study the upper Martian atmosphere. (Audio: music and mechanical sounds only)
Curiosity and MAVEN Explore Mars
The MAVEN Solar Wind Ion Analyzer will study ions in the Martian atmosphere, a key component for better understanding the planet's evolution.
MAVEN Wind Ion Analyzer
NASA Science missions circle Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Mars and many other destinations within our solar system, including spacecraft that look out even further into our universe. The Science Fleet...
SMD Spacecraft Fleet
Mars's thick early atmosphere was likely lost to space, and the Sun is a potential culprit. When high-energy solar photons strike the upper Martian atmosphere they can ionize gas molecules, causing...
MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss: Plasma Processes
This photo taken on March 3 shows the large hydrazine propellant tank prior to integration with the core structure of the MAVEN spacecraft at a Lockheed Martin clean room near Denver.
Propellant Tank for MAVEN Spacecraft
To receive the same amount of starlight as Mars receives from our Sun, a planet orbiting an M-type red dwarf would have to be positioned much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun.
How Habitable Might an Exo-Mars Be?
This artist's concept depicts the early Martian environment (right) - believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere - versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (left).
The Look of a Young Mars
Mars presents intriguing questions to scientists: How did the Red Planet become so desolate? Did Mars once look like Earth? How has it changed? The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (M...
MAVEN Teaser
Scientists think that the collision of neutral hydrogen molecules may have helped to drive the Martian atmosphere into space over billions of years.
Mars Atmospheric Loss: Neutral Processes
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