Maven launched successfully November 18, 1:28 PM EST. – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Mission managers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station cheered the launch of the MAVEN mars spacecraft carried by the atlas rocket. Raising a plume of smoke, the huge rocket lifted off with the 5,400 pound spacecraft. The last statement by MAVEN Project Manager David Mitchell indicated that the vehicle was around 14,000 miles from the earth as of that time. It will take the spacecraft 10 months to reach the red planet, where it will start orbiting maneuvers. While in mars orbit it will remotely study the martian environment to check how the red planet lost it’s water and other life sustaining elements. This will be accomplished while using the NASA deep space network communications.
Due to similarities to earth and a possible history of life, Mars is of great interest to public and governments alike. Although the missions to mars are considered risky at the best, risk is one thing the scientists at NASA have an appetite for. They have calculated it well and the team there is quite confident of a win situation for this mission. We wish them best of luck and hope that this mission will bring in the data and facts that we are looking forward to.
