Mars satellite to measure atmosphere

(Boston University, November 18, 2013)

Slowly, the sun is searing Earth’s precious atmosphere, the same process occurred on Mars billions of years ago, scientists believe. Aided by a team from Boston University, NASA is launching MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), a small satellite, to do some chemical meter-reading in the Martian atmosphere. “MAVEN will provide key knowledge for understanding how all atmospheres, even our own, have changed since the formation of the solar system,” says Paul Withers, assistant professor of astronomy at Boston University. The goal of the mission is to detail the processes that lead to atoms and molecules escaping into space, so that it can be extrapolated back in time to tell what the conditions were like when Mars was young