Looks good, Chris :)

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I was hoping MAVEN would detect, maybe map methane. Methane has been detected from Earth, but though Curiosity has a detector, she hasn't detected any. Well, Curiosity is on the other side of the planet from where methane was detected. Perhaps there's a local plume.

NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations For Mars

On Sept. 21, 2014, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft will complete roughly 10 months of travel and enter orbit around the Red Planet.

The orbit-insertion maneuver will be carried out as the spacecraft approaches Mars, wrapping up an interplanetary journey of 442 million miles (711 million kilometers). Six thruster engines will fire briefly for a “settling” burn that damps out deviations in pointing. Then the six main engines will ignite two by two in quick succession and will burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be captured in an elliptical orbit.

Yea!!

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-maven-spacecraft-makes-final-preparations-for-mars/index.html

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Woohoo! :)

Tonight!

Mars Maven mission set for arrival

The US space agency's (Nasa) latest Mars satellite is set to arrive in orbit above the planet on Monday (GMT).

Hurtling through space for the past 10 months, the Maven craft must slam on the brakes by firing its thrusters.

The 33-minute burn should remove sufficient speed to allow the satellite to be captured by Mars' gravity.

Maven has been sent to study the Red Planet's high atmosphere, to try to understand the processes that have robbed the world of most of its air.

Today, the air pressure is so low that free water at the surface would instantly boil away.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29253788

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The reason that the Martian atmosphere has boiled away is that the gravity and the atmospheric pressure on Mars were too low to keep the water and the atmosphere from basically evaporating into apace. I don't think that there is any uncertainty in this.

I have often thought that all of the Martian missions were missing the boat on the one most important question. Was there ever Life on Mars, and if so, what were these forms of that life.

It has been posited that the lack of a strong magnetic core is a major factor.

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It has been posited that the lack of a strong magnetic core is a major factor.

A factor in what ??

The lack of a Van Allen belt allows cosmic ray to boil off the gasses that compose the atmosphere.

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I'm with you William Mars is not dense enough to hold a atmosphere . We would not even be able to terror form it unless we somehow increased it's density to a point it can have a magnetic field .

i don't think it even had a atmosphere for long enough for life to start other wise we should have found some by now even a single celled one .

Now smash a few billion tons x 10 of meteorites into it then maybe it would be worth trying to terror form it and live there or mine it .

I think we got more chance of finding life on Jupiter's or Saturn's moons than Mars

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On Sept. 21, 2014, a new NASA mission, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN), reached Mars after a 10-month journey. MAVEN will observe the Martian upper atmosphere, including keeping an eye on just what effect the solar wind and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have on the red planet. Such observations not only help us understand the history of what led to the desert surface we see today, but also pave the way for protecting astronauts on future visits.

CME Week: Coronal Mass Ejections at Mars
September 23, 2014

Two main types of explosions occur on the sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Unlike the energy and X-rays produced in a solar flare – which can reach Earth at the speed of light in eight minutes – coronal mass ejections are giant clouds of solar material that take one to three days to reach Earth. Once at Earth, these ejections, also called CMEs, can impact satellites in space or interfere with radio communications. During CME Week from Sept. 22 to 26, 2014, we explore different aspects of these giant eruptions that surge out from the star we live with.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/coronal-mass-ejections-at-mars/index.html

Video included with link.

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I've read that 4 instruments aboard MAVEN were designed and built at Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley.
Tullio

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I think I read it on the JPL site. There was also a photo of the SSL building atop a hill and overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Beautiful location.
Tullio

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Does anybody know weather the Indian satellite is part of Maven Project or will be ?

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No, the Indian satellite is theirs & nothing to do with NASA.

Does anybody know weather the Indian satellite is part of Maven Project or will be ?

NASA commented that they will be able to cross validate some of their data with the Indian data.

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I think there is also a European mission on the way to Mars, whose sky seems to be crowded. But only America has two missions already on the ground.
Tullio

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NASA's MAVEN Captures Atmosphere Loss on Mars

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has sent back instrument data from the thin upper atmosphere of Mars, which scientists say shows atmospheric loss on a planet believed to have once been surrounded by a thicker cloud of gases.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2470442,00.asp

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It has been posited that the lack of a strong magnetic core is a major factor.

The lack of a Van Allen belt allows cosmic ray to boil off the gasses that compose the atmosphere.

The reason that the Martian atmosphere has boiled away is that the gravity and the atmospheric pressure on Mars were too low to keep the water and the atmosphere from basically evaporating into apace. I don't think that there is any uncertainty in this.

I have often thought that all of the Martian missions were missing the boat on the one most important question. Was there ever Life on Mars, and if so, what were these forms of that life.

As I see it, the magnetic field on earth helps protect atmosphere from being blown away by solar wind?
Is the gravity is high enough to hold onto some (most?) of it? (atmosphere, water, ozone, etc)
Anyway. There is a lot about manned mission to Mars in 'future' (2020, etc)
Wouldn't it be a one way trip for any astronauts, even with various forms of shielding? the likelihood of cancer on a 2~4 yr mission?
If terraforming isn't possible because mass is too low, what is the 'real' purpose of going there?
I don't believe America(n Public) would be willing to spend unknown billions on 'purely scientific' mission and the military wouldn't take money away from their 'toys' unless they thought there was something better out there?
Public sector may eventually start space 'exploration' but only if there is enough profit in it (plus no one is going to check up on them when they are 'off planet')

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I'm not a complete idiot, but, I'm working on it.
I have an opinion and I'm not afraid to use it

It has been posited that the lack of a strong magnetic core is a major factor.

The lack of a Van Allen belt allows cosmic ray to boil off the gasses that compose the atmosphere.

The reason that the Martian atmosphere has boiled away is that the gravity and the atmospheric pressure on Mars were too low to keep the water and the atmosphere from basically evaporating into apace. I don't think that there is any uncertainty in this.

I have often thought that all of the Martian missions were missing the boat on the one most important question. Was there ever Life on Mars, and if so, what were these forms of that life.

As I see it, the magnetic field on earth helps protect atmosphere from being blown away by solar wind?
Is the gravity is high enough to hold onto some (most?) of it? (atmosphere, water, ozone, etc)
Anyway. There is a lot about manned mission to Mars in 'future' (2020, etc)
Wouldn't it be a one way trip for any astronauts, even with various forms of shielding? the likelihood of cancer on a 2~4 yr mission?
If terraforming isn't possible because mass is too low, what is the 'real' purpose of going there?
I don't believe America(n Public) would be willing to spend unknown billions on 'purely scientific' mission and the military wouldn't take money away from their 'toys' unless they thought there was something better out there?
Public sector may eventually start space 'exploration' but only if there is enough profit in it (plus no one is going to check up on them when they are 'off planet')

You can always make a mission from "Asteroid iniative" to "Terraforming planet"...and there are 3 benefits:
1. you'll warm up the planet
2. you'll put more water on planet
3. you'll put more mass on the planet

Though some scientists should calculate the altered trajectory of the more massive body!

I know there has to be some Mars NEO list somewhere... ;)

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