Farah Qureshi
Councller (250+ posts)
Mars probes from US and India arrive at red planet this month

By Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor
Published September 10, 2014
The U.S.-built probe, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, is expected to enter orbit around Mars on Sept. 21. Just days later, on Sept. 24, India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) orbiter is due to make its own Mars arrival when it enters orbit. Both MOM and MAVEN launched to space in 2013
MAVEN is the first mission devoted to probing the Martian atmosphere, particularly to understand how it has changed during the planet's history. [See images from the MAVEN mission]http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014...us-and-india-arrive-at-red-planet-this-month/
Before that happens, however, the spacecraft must burn its engines to go into orbit around the planet, and pass a commissioning phase while taking a few precautions for a "low-risk" situation where a comet will pass fairly close to Mars.
"We've been developing MAVEN for about 11 years, and it comes down to a 33-minute rocket burn on Sept. 21," MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Space.com

By Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor
Published September 10, 2014
The U.S.-built probe, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, is expected to enter orbit around Mars on Sept. 21. Just days later, on Sept. 24, India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) orbiter is due to make its own Mars arrival when it enters orbit. Both MOM and MAVEN launched to space in 2013
MAVEN is the first mission devoted to probing the Martian atmosphere, particularly to understand how it has changed during the planet's history. [See images from the MAVEN mission]http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014...us-and-india-arrive-at-red-planet-this-month/
Before that happens, however, the spacecraft must burn its engines to go into orbit around the planet, and pass a commissioning phase while taking a few precautions for a "low-risk" situation where a comet will pass fairly close to Mars.
"We've been developing MAVEN for about 11 years, and it comes down to a 33-minute rocket burn on Sept. 21," MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Space.com
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