MAVEN

MAVEN is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 39378

Int'l Code: 2013-063A

Launch date: November 18, 2013
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: AIR FORCE EASTERN TEST RANGE (AFETR)

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) is a space probe designed to study the Martian atmosphere while orbiting Mars. Mission goals include determining how the Martian atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time. MAVEN was successfully launched aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle at the beginning of the first launch window on November 18, 2013. Following the first engine burn of the Centaur second stage, the vehicle coasted in low-Earth orbit for 27 minutes before a second Centaur burn of five minutes to insert it into a heliocentric Mars transit orbit.