MAVEN National Air and Space Museum Presentation
Ancient riverbeds, crater lakes and flood channels all attest to Mars's warm, watery past. So how did the Red Planet evolve from a once hospitable world into the cold, dry desert that we see today? One possibility is that Mars lost its early atmosphere, allowing its water to escape into space, and NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft will investigate just that. On September 25, 2013, MAVEN Principal Investigator Bruce Jakosky delivered a presentation at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, discussing NASA's next mission to Mars. An edited version appears below.
MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is NASA's next mission to Mars, designed to figure out how the Red Planet lost its early atmosphere to space. Principal Investigator Bruce Jakosky discusses Mars's missing atmosphere and the challenges of building the MAVEN spacecraft.
For complete transcript, click here.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
-
Animators
- Chris Meaney (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Michael Lentz (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Ryan Zuber (UMBC)
- Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
-
Video editors
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- David Ladd (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
-
Scientist
- Bruce Jakosky (LASP)
-
Producers
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- David Ladd (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
-
Narration
- Bruce Jakosky (LASP)
-
Videographers
- Michael Randazzo (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
- Rob Andreoli (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
-
Project support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Dean Fick (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
- Pat Kennedy (KBRwyle)
- Swarupa Nune (InuTeq)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:-
MAVEN NASM 2013
(ID: 2013090)
Wednesday, October 30, 2013 at 4:00AM
Produced by - Dan Jacob
Related pages
-
-
ID: 11581 Produced Video
Goddard Goes to Mars
Read moreThe Martian climate remains one of the solar system's biggest mysteries: although cold and dry today, myriad surface features on Mars carved by flowing water attest to a much warmer, wetter past. What caused this dramatic transition? Scientists think that climate change on Mars may be due to solar wind erosion of the early atmosphere, and NASA's MAVEN mission will test this hypothesis. Project Manager David F. Mitchell discusses MAVEN and the Goddard Space Flight Center's role in sending it to the Red Planet. ||
-
ID: 11037 Produced Video
MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss
Read moreWhen you take a look at Mars, you probably wouldn't think that it looks like a nice place to live. It's dry, it's dusty, and there's practically no atmosphere. But some scientists think that Mars may have once looked like a much nicer place to live, with a thicker atmosphere, cloudy skies, and possibly even liquid water flowing over the surface. So how did Mars transform from a warm, wet world to a cold, barren desert? NASA's MAVEN spacecraft will give us a clearer idea of how Mars lost its atmosphere (and thus its water), and scientists think that several processes have had an impact.Learn more about these processes in the videos below! ||
-
ID: 11310 Produced Video
MAVEN Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer
Read moreWhile NASA rovers, landers, and orbiters have scrutinized the surface of Mars for decades, a key question to understanding the Red Planet's ancient habitability has hitherto gone unanswered: what happened to its atmosphere? NASA's MAVEN spacecraft will fill in this gap in the history of Mars, thanks in part to its Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, or NGIMS instrument. By studying the interaction of neutral gases and ions with the solar wind, NGIMS will observe current atmospheric escape processes on Mars and allow scientists to extrapolate back to the ancient atmosphere. The results could tell scientists just how long Mars was warm, wet, and hospitable, refining our understanding of its early potential for life. ||
-
ID: 10666 Produced Video
MAVEN Science Teaser
Read moreThe Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), set to launch in 2013, will explore the planet's upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind. Scientists will use MAVEN data to determine the role that loss of volatile compounds from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time, giving insight into the history of Mars atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. || Learn more about MAVEN from Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's Principal Investigator!For complete transcript, click here. ||
-