Planets and Moons ID: 4176

MAVEN: Cruise Phase

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on September 4, 2014

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) spacecraft was launched on a 10 month journey to Mars on November 18, 2013. MAVEN is expected to arrive in Mars orbit on Sept 21, 2014 EDT. MAVEN's mission is to investigate the upper atmosphere of Mars and its interactions with the Sun and solar wind. This will help scientists understand why Mars lost many volatile molecules form its atmosphere such as CO2, N2, and H2O.

These visualizations show the path has taken from Earth to Mars. There is a wide view from above the ecliptic plane and a view that slowly tilts down to about 45 degrees above the ecliptic plane.

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Ernie Wright (USRA): Animator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer
David Folta (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Bruce Jakosky (LASP): Scientist
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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Mission:
MAVEN: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN

Data Used:

also referred to as: GSFC Flight Dynamics Facility Ephemeris

Ephemeris - GSFC/FDF - 2013-11-18 through 2014-09-27

view all stories where this data set is used

JPL DE421 also referred to as: DE421

Ephemeris - NASA/JPL - 2013-11-18 through 2014-09-27

Planetary ephemerides

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ephemerides#planets

view all stories where this data set is used

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
MAVEN

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Mars
SVS >> Orbit
SVS >> MAVEN
SVS >> Solar System >> Orbits
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons

Places you might have seen this:
<a href="http://www.today.com/video/today/55729363#55729363">Today Show, July 26, 2014</a>