NASA’s MAVEN On Course to Uncover Secrets of the Red Planet
NASA’s MAVEN On Course to Uncover Secrets of the Red Planet
Mars has always fascinated man. The Red Planet holds many secrets about the existence and evolution of the universe. Many scientists hold that the Red Planet once had a cloudy, earth type atmosphere and flowing water. But the barren planet could hold many clues about the existence of the universe and NASA’s MAVEN now seeks to probe how Mars lost most of its atmosphere and the accompanying protective effects.
Early Discoveries
NASA’s newest Mars Orbiter MAVEN ( Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission has entered the science phase on November 16th, 2014. It now seeks to uncover how the Red Planet lost its atmosphere to space over a period of time.
MAVEN has found a new process through which solar winds can penetrate into the planet’s atmosphere. This constitutes the first comprehensive measurement of the upper atmosphere of the planet and its electrically charged ionosphere. The results also reveal the never before view of ions as they increase in energy which leads to their escape and release from the atmosphere.
“We are beginning to see the links in a chain that begins with solar-driven processes acting on gas in the upper atmosphere and leads to atmospheric loss,” Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado has been quoted by media reports as saying. “Over the course of the full mission, we’ll be able to fill in this picture and really understand the processes by which the atmosphere changed over time,” he also said.
Within each orbit around the Red Planet, MAVEN is dipping into the ionosphere to explore more.
About the Martian Ionosphere
Located on the orbit around Mars is the ionosphere. This is a layer of ions and electrons extending from 75 to 300 miles above the surface. This layer is a kind of shield around the planet, and it fends off the solar wind, which is an intense steam of hot, high energy particles coming emanating from the solar atmosphere.
MAVEN Catches the Solar Winds in Action
Scientists have also observed that measurements of solar winds could earlier only be made before the particles reached the invisible boundary of the ionosphere.
Now, MAVEN’s Solar Wind Ion Analyser has discovered a stream of solar wind particles that can penetrate into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars. MAVEN’s STATIC or Supra-thermal and Thermal Ion Composition is now testing how gases leave the atmosphere. It found that polar plumes of ions escaped from Mars as a result of being pierced by these solar winds suggesting a possible explanation of how Mars lost its atmosphere. As the satellite dived down into the atmosphere, it identified a cold ionosphere at closet approach and its heating to escape velocities as MAVEN rose in altitude.
Energised ions broke free of the planets’ gravitational pull as they extend along a plume above Mars.
Houdini Type Steam
In fact, researchers have also found that interactions within the upper atmosphere seem to transform the stream of ions into neutral form that can breach amazingly low altitudes. Within the ionosphere, the steam magically emerges in ion form again and it retains the characteristics of the pristine solar winds providing clues about loss of atmosphere. In fact, the disintegration of Martian atmosphere has been linked directly to the activity in the upper atmosphere and the ionosphere.
Through this process known as stripping, scientists hold that Mars lost much of its atmosphere as solar winds pushed lighter isotopes of hydrogen out into space, leaving behind a heavier isotope known as deuterium behind. As the hydrogen escaped, the atmosphere became thinner and this could explain why water stopped flowing on Mars and possible life ended.
MAVEN in Action
MAVEN commenced with science observations in the middle of November following a 2 month commissioning phase briefly broken by Comet Siding Spring’s close flyby of the Red Planet. The spacecraft also found solar wind particles in the ionosphere which is a region roughly 75 to 300 miles above the surface and protects the planet from the solar wind. Scientists now hold that they can study how solar winds create atmospheric loss over millions to billions of years on Mars. MAVEN’s neutral gas and ion mass spectrometer is measuring the upper atmosphere and ionosphere’s composition plus weather for the first time.
Conclusion
There are so many mysteries in this universe which remain unexplored. Man has yet to solve the ultimate riddle namely the story of how the earth and the universe was born. Finding life or possibility for life on other planets is an added bonus. The possibility of life on Mars had always captured the active imagination of many novelists such as John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars and fictional characters such as John Carter were one of the many that revolved around life on the Red Planet.
With many scientists holding that life could have once existed on the red planet, the question arises as to what could have ended this and led to loss of water from the surface of the planet. Mars holds answers to many riddles and India does not lag behind either. Many nations are exploring the Red Planet. The red letter day for scientists will probably be when they have managed to find evidence that life if any once existed on this planet. For now, finding out how it may have ended is an enthralling fact by itself.
MAVEN entered into the Martian orbit on September 21, 2014 and it entered the orbit completing an interplanetary journey of 10 months and 22 million miles, according to the NASA website. MAVEN has many discoveries ahead of it, provided there are no hurdles. For now, a massive scientific discovery has made it possible to explain why life ended in Mars. Now comes the wait to find out whether and how it existed in the first place.
