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Posted: April 20, 2006The Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket successfully launched the European ASTRA 1KR television broadcast satellite right on time at 4:27 p.m. EDT April 20 from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.Photos by Pat Corkery/Lockheed Martin Corporation Credit: Pat Corkery/Lockheed Martin CorporationJohn Glenn Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The historic first orbital flight by an American is marked by this commemorative patch for John Glenn and Friendship 7.Final Shuttle Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is available in our store. Get this piece of history!Celebrate the shuttle programFree shipping to U.S. addresses!This special commemorative patch marks the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Available in our store!Anniversary Shuttle PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!This embroidered patch commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. The design features the space shuttle Columbia’s historic maiden flight of April 12, 1981.Mercury anniversaryFree shipping to U.S. addresses!Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Shephard’s historic Mercury mission with this collectors’ item, the official commemorative embroidered patch.Fallen Heroes Patch CollectionThe official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store.Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Expedition 21The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Hubble PatchThe official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle’s last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.LRO quick factsFROM NASA PRESS KIT Artist’s concept of LRO in orbit around the moon. Credit: NASADuration: LRO has a one-year exploration mission followed by a possible three-year science mission. Mass: The total mass at launch is 1,916 kilograms (4,224 pounds). The dry mass is 1,018 kilograms (2,244 pounds), and fuel is 898 kilograms (1,980 pounds). Power: Spacecraft power is 685 watts. Dimensions: Stowed in the rocket (solar array and high-gain antenna folded up), LRO is 152 inches tall. LRO measures 103 inches from the instrument module to the stowed solar array and 108 inches from the stowed high-gain antenna to Mini-RF antenna. After launch, LRO’s deployed solar array is 168 inches ?? 126 inches. The three panels together are 168 inches wide and extend out from the spacecraft 126 inches. The deployed high-gain antenna extends out 102 inches. Fine Pointing: The spacecraft maintains pointing control to 60 arc seconds. Solar Array: The spacecraft has articulated solar arrays and Li-ion battery. Telemetry: Telemetry is Ka-band hi-rate downlink and S-band up/down low rate Data Volume and Maximum Downlink Rate: The data volume is 461 Gb per day and downlink is 100 Mb per second. Spacecraft Provider: The spacecraft was built by engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Orbit: The trip to the moon will take approximately four days. LRO will then enter an elliptical orbit, also called the commissioning orbit. From there, it will be moved into its final orbit ?? a circular polar orbit approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the moon’s surface. Mission Operations Center: The Mission Operations Center (MOC) resides at NASA Goddard Space Flight in Greenbelt, Md. Engineers at Goddard will control the spacecraft after separation, during lunar orbit insertion, and for mission operations. The MOC flows raw data to principal investigators. Planetary Data System: Principal investigators will deliver instrument data to the Planetary Data System within six months after initial operations. The Planetary Data System is a publicly accessible repository of science data for planetary missions. Project Cost: The project’s life cost is approximately $500 million.InstrumentsCRaTER — The Principal Investigator is Dr. Harlan Spence, Boston University, Boston. The instrument mass is 5.4 kilograms (12 pounds) and the average power is 7.3 watts. Diviner — The Principal Investigator is Dr. David Paige, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif. The instrument mass is 11.0 kilograms (24 pounds) with average power of 24.7 watts. LAMP — The Principal Investigator is Dr. Randy Gladstone, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas. The instrument mass is 6.1 kilograms (13 pounds) and the average power is 4.0 watts. LEND — The Principal Investigator is Dr. Igor Mitrofanov, Institute for Space Research, Moscow, Russia. The instrument mass is 25.8 kilograms (57 pounds) and the average power is 11.6 watts. LOLA — The Principal Investigator is Dr. David Smith, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The instrument mass is 11.3 kilograms (25 pounds) and the average power is 33.4 watts. LROC — The Principal Investigator is Dr. Mark Robinson, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz. The instrument mass is 19.2 kilograms (42 pounds) and the average power is 24.0 watts. Mini-RF — The Principal Investigator is Dr. Stewart Nozette, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. The instrument mass is 13.8 kilograms (30 pounds) and the average power is 7.0 watts. Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER)The primary goal of CRaTER is to characterize the lunar radiation environment in terms of the different types of charged particles and their energies, particularly above 10 MeV. Radiation comes from the sun and beyond the Solar System (galactic cosmic rays). These data will allow scientists to determine the potential biological impacts of the radiation. CRaTER will also test models of radiation effects and shielding and measure radiation absorption by human tissue-like plastic, aiding in the development of protective technologies to help keep crews safe.CRaTER measures the energy deposited by cosmic rays over a wide energy range behind different amounts of tissue-equivalent plastic (TEP). Radiation passing through the telescope, including ions and electrons, and to a lesser extent neutrons and gamma rays, loses energy while passing through silicon detectors and the TEP. When ionizing radiation passes through a detector a signal is produced that is proportional to the total energy lost in the detector. Detectors are in pairs, one thicker and one thinner, which when combined, provide measurements of the linear energy transfer (LET) over the range of 0.1 keV/??m to 2.2 MeV/??m, a range relevant to radiobiology. Measured LET is used to understand how radiation loss evolves in human tissue and how dose rates change during periods of heightened solar activity and ultimately over the course of the solar cycle. CRaTER will make the first direct, high-resolution measurements in deep space of the LET spectrum of energetic radiation. These data will be of major importance not only for human exploration but also for better understanding radiation effects in spacecraft systems. Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE)The objective of DLRE is to measure lunar surface temperatures at scales that provide essential information for future surface operations and exploration. The temperature of the lunar surface and subsurface is a critical environmental parameter for future human and robotic exploration. While the Apollo missions were all targeted to equatorial landing sites and were only conducted during the lunar day, NASA’s new lunar exploration program will involve exploration of a much wider range of latitudes and astronaut stays of longer than two weeks. Both types of missions involve considerably more challenging thermal environments and will benefit greatly from a comprehensive global thermal mapping dataset that Diviner will provide. A key objective is to determine the temperatures within permanently shadowed areas, which would be well below 100 K (-279 degrees F), to understand the potential of these areas to harbor water ice. Orbital thermal mapping measurements also provide detailed information on surface parameters such as composition, hazards, rough terrain, or rocks. The Diviner instrument will be able to determine surface temperatures to within 5 degrees C across areas as small as 300 m using 9 different wavelengths between 7 and 200 microns. The structure consists of an optics bench assembly, a motor driven elevation/azimuth yoke, and an instrument mount. The optics bench holds all of the optical subassemblies (the mirrors and detectors) and is suspended from the yoke. Motors on the yoke allow the instrument to be pointed in different directions and scan across the surface. The instrument is temperature controlled. Radiometric calibration is provided by viewing of blackbody and solar targets mounted on the yoke. Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) The goal of the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) is to map the entire lunar surface in the far ultraviolet part of the spectrum. LAMP will search for surface ice and frost in the polar regions and provide images of permanently shadowed regions, illuminated only by starlight and the glow of interplanetary hydrogen emission, known as the Lyman Alpha line. LAMP is an imaging ultraviolet spectrometer based on an instrument that is currently on its way to Pluto (the ALICE UV spectrometer). The instrument detects ultraviolet light between 1,200 — 1,800 ?. Building up data over the course of the mission will allow surface resolutions of a few kilometers with high signal-to-noise ratio. Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) will measure the neutron flux from the moon from thermal energies up to 15 MeV. LEND will create maps of surface and subsurface (down to ~1 meter) hydrogen distribution by measuring the epithermal neutron flux (0.4 eV-100 eV) with high-spatial resolution (10 km Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM)). LEND will be able to detect hydrogen in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles that may be water ice. Detection of water ice deposits will identify a critical resource for the future long-term human presence on the moon. LEND will also gather information about the neutron component of the lunar radiation environment, also extremely important for its impact on astronaut health. LEND is a neutron spectrometer similar to another instrument, the High Energy Neutron Detector (HEND) that has been operating around Mars since 2001 on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The neutrons measured by these instruments are formed by cosmic-ray interactions with the planetary surface. If hydrogen is present, it will change the energy spectrum of those neutrons, providing quantitative information on hydrogen distribution. Unlike HEND, LEND is designed with a passive collimator that provides high spatial resolution (10 km FWHM) of neutron emission at the lunar surface. No other neutron instrument with this imaging capability has ever flown in space.Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) investigation will provide a precise global lunar topographic model and geodetic grid that will serve as the framework to enable precise target location, safe landing, and surface mobility to carry out exploratory activities. LOLA will also characterize the polar illumination environment by mapping the details of the topography, and image permanently shadowed polar regions of the moon to identify possible locations of surface ice crystals in shadowed polar craters. Building on our previous experiences on the moon and Mars, we now know that topography at scales from local to global is necessary for landing safely. In addition, it preserves the record of the evolution of the surface that contributes to decisions as to where to explore. The LOLA instrument pulses a single laser at 1,064 nm wavelength laser, splitting the output into five beams that illuminates surface 28 times per second. For each beam, LOLA measures time of flight (range), pulse spreading (surface roughness), and transmit/return energy (surface reflectance). This allows the topography to be determined, along with an indication of whether the surface is rough or smooth at small scales and any changes in the surface brightness. With its two dimensional spot pattern, LOLA unambiguously determines slopes along and across the orbit track. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC)LROC is designed to address two of the prime LRO measurement requirements: (1) Assess meter scale features to facilitate selection of future landing sites on the moon, and (2) acquire images of the poles every orbit to characterize the polar illumination environment (100-meter scale), identifying regions of permanent shadow and permanent or near-permanent illumination throughout a full lunar year. In addition to these two main objectives, the LROC team plans to conduct meter-scale mapping of polar regions, 3-dimensional observations to enable derivation of meter-scale surface features, global multispectral imaging, and production of a global landform map. LROC will also reimage sites photographed during Apollo to measure recent meteorite impact rates and better understand the potential hazard from these impacts. LROC consists of two narrow-angle cameras (NACs) to provide 0.5 meter scale panchromatic images over a 5-km swath, a wide-angle camera (WAC) to provide images at a scale of 100 meter in seven color bands over a 60-km swath, and a Sequence and Compressor System (SCS) supporting data acquisition for both cameras. LROC is a modified version of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s ConTeXt Camera (CTX) and MARs Color Imager (MARCI) provided by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, Calif. Mini-RFMini-RF on LRO will provide observations of the permanently shadowed areas by using radar illumination of the surface at resolutions of 30 and 150 meters. The returned data will also be used to define the manner in which the radar energy is scattered and reflected back to the spacecraft. Depending upon the characteristics of the reflected energy, it will be possible to determine if ice is present in significant quantities in the areas of permanent shadow. Because radar uses wavelengths of 8-12 GHz (X band) and 2 GHz (S band) it is sensitive to surface roughness (rocks) and can be used to map rock distribution. A less advanced version of this instrument is being flown on the Chandrayaan-1 mission and those data will be used to guide the higher resolution and more advanced measurements made by Mini-RF. The Mini-RF is a technology demonstration of an advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR), capable of measurements in X-band and S-band. Mini-RF will demonstrate new lightweight SAR communication technologies and locate potential water ice. The Mini-RF instrument consists of electronic boxes and an antenna. The antenna is mounted on the side of the spacecraft and it points at an angle of 50 degrees. An image is produced by the motion of the spacecraft.Final Shuttle Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is now available in our store. Get this piece of history!STS-134 PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The final planned flight of space shuttle Endeavour is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-134. Available in our store!Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Project OrionThe Orion crew exploration vehicle is NASA’s first new human spacecraft developed since the space shuttle a quarter-century earlier. The capsule is one of the key elements of returning astronauts to the Moon.Fallen Heroes Patch CollectionThe official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Major satellite launch next on Cape Canaveral schedule SPACEFLIGHT NOWPosted: June 10, 2010 Now that last week’s Falcon-mania has subsided at Cape Canaveral, attention turns to preparations for the Florida spaceport’s next launch of the Atlas 5 rocket to place a crucial national security communications satellite into space. An artist’s concept of AEHF 1. Credit: Lockheed MartinUnited Launch Alliance technicians have erected the rocket’s bronze first stage and the Centaur upper stage aboard the mobile launching platform that’s parked inside the Complex 41 assembly building.Sporting a large nose cone and three strap-on solid-fueled boosters, the vehicle will form one of the most powerful lifters in the U.S. inventory. It’s known as the 531 configuration in the Atlas’ modular family.All that thrust will propel the Air Force’s first Advanced Extremely High Frequency spacecraft into orbit on July 30 from the Complex 41 launch pad. The morning’s window extends from 8:05 to 10:05 a.m. EDT (1205-1405 GMT).Built by Lockheed Martin with help from Northrop Grumman, the AEHF 1 satellite begins a new generation of geosynchronous spacecraft that relay secure communications amongst the national leadership and battlefield commanders.»Launching the first AEHF satellite will mark yet another revolution in assured military satellite communications by a government and industry team that has delivered unmatched capabilities for secure transmission of the highest priority military information,» said Stuart Linsky, Northrop Grumman vice president for satellite communications. An artist’s concept of the AEHF coverage patterns. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe new AEHF birds will replace the aging Milstar satellites in providing vital links that are dependable, jam-resistent and immune from interception.»AEHF will play an integral role in our national security space architecture, and we look forward to providing this new capability to the warfighter,» said Col. Michael Sarchet, commander of the Protected Satellite Communications Group at the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center.»This sophisticated satellite was designed, built and tested by a joint government/industry team dedicated to providing secure, real-time connectivity to deployed forces around the globe.»Designers say one AEHF spacecraft has more capacity than Milstar’s five-satellite constellation combined and its faster data rates will benefit tactical military communications, enabling higher quality maps, targeting data and live video to be transmitted without being detected by the enemy.»Assured communications for our military services is absolutely essential wherever they may be deployed,» Linsky said. «Capabilities provided by AEHF will give more warfighters access to the protected communications they need.»Two more AEHF satellites are built and progressing through factory testing. Their launches aboard Atlas 5 rockets are expected by 2012.»We are very proud of our role in providing critical protected communications systems for the nation and have great confidence in the unprecedented new capabilities this vitally important satellite will provide to the warfighter,» said Mike Davis, Lockheed Martin’s AEHF vice president. An artist’s concept of the three AEHF satellites. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe Air Force said AEHF 1 arrived in Florida on May 24 to undergo the final preparations for flight. The craft will be checked out, then fueled and encapsulated within its launch shroud at a satellite processing facility. Delivery of the payload to the rocket’s Vertical Integration Facility at Complex 41 for attachment atop the Centaur upper stage occurs a couple of weeks before liftoff.Once the Atlas’ initial assembly is finished — albeit without the payload or nose cone yet — the rocket will be temporarily transported to the launch pad at the end of June for a countdown dress rehearsal and fueling test. Afterwards, the mobile platform hauls the rocket back to hangar to receive the AEHF satellite.This will be the 22nd launch for the Atlas 5 since 2002 and the ninth dedicated Defense Department mission. Atlas completed two civil and military flights earlier this year to deploy NASA’s new Sun-watching observatory and the Air Force’s X-37B experimental spaceplane.See our for previous launch coverage.STS-134 PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The final planned flight of space shuttle Endeavour is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-134. Available in our store!Final Shuttle Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is now available in our store. Get this piece of history!Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.STS-133 PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The final planned flight of space shuttle Discovery is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-133. Available in our store!Anniversary Shuttle PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!This embroidered patch commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. The design features the space shuttle Columbia’s historic maiden flight of April 12, 1981.Mercury anniversaryFree shipping to U.S. addresses!Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Shephard’s historic Mercury mission with this collectors’ item, the official commemorative embroidered patch. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Mars atmospheric probe blasts off aboard Atlas 5 SPACEFLIGHT NOWPosted: November 18, 2013 A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket dispatched a $671 million gas-sniffing sleuth to Mars on Monday, taking the first step in a long-distance voyage across the solar system to survey the Martian atmosphere and decipher an enigma nearly as old as the solar system itself. Liftoff of MAVEN occurred on time atop an Atlas 5 rocket at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT). Credit: Pat Corkery/United Launch Alliance»What a Monday at the office,» said David Mitchell, MAVEN’s project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.The Mars-bound spacecraft, weighing as much as a fully loaded SUV, blasted off at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Fla.Dodging clouds from an incoming weather front, the 188-foot-tall Atlas 5 launcher leisurely ascended from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 on the power of its Russian-made RD-180 engine.Getting lighter as the first stage burned its supplies of propellant, the Atlas 5 broke the sound barrier about a minute-and-a-half later, rocketing into the stratosphere and leaving Earth’s veneer of air behind.The rocket’s kerosene-fueled first stage, painted a gleaming bronze, shut down and jettisoned about four minutes after liftoff, yielding to a Centaur upper stage for the final maneuvers to place the 5,420-pound MAVEN spacecraft on a hyperbolic escape trajectory to break free of the grip of Earth’s gravity.The Centaur stage released the MAVEN probe about 53 minutes into the mission, notching another success for ULA’s workhorse Atlas 5 rocket, which made its seventh flight of the year Monday.A few minutes after separation from the Atlas 5 rocket, MAVEN radioed its status to antennas in Australia, confirming its health as it extended two appendages containing more than 2,000 power-generating solar cells to begin charging the craft’s batteries.By 4 p.m. EST, two-and-a-half hours after launch, MAVEN was 14,000 miles from Earth and speeding away. Artist’s concept of MAVEN deploying from the Centaur upper stage. Credit: United Launch AllianceEngineers planned to analyze telemetry data from MAVEN overnight Monday, assess the health of the spacecraft, and formally transition the mission into the cruise phase Tuesday.The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, was conceived to solve the mystery of how the Martian atmosphere was stripped from the red planet, a landmark event that eroded the world’s ability to support life.Bruce Jakosky, a scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, dreamed up the mission 10 years ago.»After 10 years of doing this, I don’t have the words to describe what I’m feeling,» Jakosky said. «It’s every possible emotion, but they’re all positive.»After winning funding from NASA in 2008, MAVEN was given a launch opportunity in November 2013.»Five years ago, we put in Nov. 18, 2013, as our planned launch date, and we hit it,» Mitchell said.Big challenges loom ahead of MAVEN, especially a crucial 38-minute thruster firing in September 2014 to put the school bus-sized spacecraft in orbit around Mars.Before then, MAVEN will go through a program of testing and checkouts to ensure everything is in tip-top shape for the Mars arrival on Sept. 22, 2014.»I’ve been incredibly nervous for the last 10 years,» Jakosky said. «I know that we do lose spacecraft on launch. Not every launch goes smoothly. In fact, that’s the single biggest potential opportunity to lose the mission, so getting past this hurdle is a really big one. Now we get to the next hurdle where have potential to lose the mission, which will be Mars orbit insertion.»MAVEN’s next milestone is a Dec. 3 engine burn to adjust the probe’s path toward Mars, the first of four course correction maneuvers planned during the mission’s 10-month cruise. The Dec. 3 burn will adjust MAVEN’s course to aim for Mars. Engineers purposefully put the spacecraft on a trajectory to miss the red planet following launch because the Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur stage is shadowing MAVEN on the escape path from Earth. Artist’s concept of MAVEN at Mars. Credit: Lockheed MartinScientists don’t want the Centaur rocket stage, brimming with toxic propellants and strong gas tanks, crashing into Mars and contaminating the surface.Mitchell said ground controllers will start activating MAVEN’s eight science instruments for tests in December, and some of the payloads will take data during the voyage to Mars. MAVEN’s ultraviolet imaging spectrometer will observe comet ISON in December, Jakosky said.Once MAVEN is at Mars, the probe will drop into an operational elliptical orbit. MAVEN is due to begin collecting science by early November 2014, according to NASA.MAVEN will do a lap around Mars ever four-and-a-half hours, reaching as far as 3,860 miles from the planet and as close as 93 miles above its surface, close enough for the spacecraft sample the upper atmosphere each time around.Five times during its one-year prime mission, MAVEN will alter its orbit to dip deeper into the wispy layers of gas enshrouding Mars, plowing through the atmosphere just 77 miles above the red planet.»If you put your hand while you’re going through, you would feel a light breeze,» said Guy Beutelschies, MAVEN program manager at Lockheed Martin Corp. «It’s really a modest amount of pressure out there, but it is a tremendous value for the scientists to be able to go down and get that in situ measurement of the atmosphere.»MAVEN’s solar panels are canted at an angle on each end, making the spacecraft more aerodynamic when it flies through the outer atmosphere of Mars, according Beutelschies.The spacecraft is outfitted with instrumentation to keep track of solar activity, measure the make-up of the Martian upper atmosphere, and observe how the atmosphere moves, grows and shrinks during the mission.NASA has committed to paying for MAVEN to collect scientific data for at least one year — until late 2015 — but the platform has enough fuel to last up to a decade.One of MAVEN’s ancillary objectives is to serve as a communications relay platform for NASA’s rovers on the surface of Mars. The space agency relies on orbiters above Mars to function as faster radio links with the rovers than if engineers were forced to communicate with them directly.But research is the reason for MAVEN’s existence.»It’s clear that major questions about the history of Mars center on the history of its climate and atmosphere, and how that’s influenced the surface, geology and the possibility for life,» Jakosky said.Scientists know Mars today is a barren world with its water locked up underground or in immense polar ice caps. Thanks to missions like the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, geologists have obtained a window into the Martian environment billions of years ago, when Mars had ample flowing water and all the chemical ingredients required to give rise to life.But there is something missing.Data from previous missions lack insight into how and when Mars changed, and MAVEN’s job is to find out what triggered the dramatic climate shift.»We’re trying to understand basically why the climate chnaged on Mars, why Mars appears to have gone from an environment that was habitable — to microorganisms at least — to one that is the cold, dry, uninhabitable environment we see today,» Jakosky said.Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: .John Glenn Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The historic first orbital flight by an American is marked by this commemorative patch for John Glenn and Friendship 7.Final Shuttle Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is available in our store. Get this piece of history!Celebrate the shuttle programFree shipping to U.S. addresses!This special commemorative patch marks the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Available in our store!Anniversary Shuttle PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!This embroidered patch commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. The design features the space shuttle Columbia’s historic maiden flight of April 12, 1981.Mercury anniversaryFree shipping to U.S. addresses!Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Shephard’s historic Mercury mission with this collectors’ item, the official commemorative embroidered patch.Fallen Heroes Patch CollectionThe official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Mars orbiter set for launch on atmospheric research mission SPACEFLIGHT NOWPosted: November 17, 2013 An Atlas 5 rocket is geared up for launch from Cape Canaveral on Monday with a NASA spacecraft dreamed up a decade ago to help solve the puzzle of how Mars cooled off and dried up sometime long ago, likely killing off any life that may have existed there. Artist’s concept of MAVEN at Mars. Credit: NASA/GoddardThe Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission carries a suite of instruments built by scientists across the United States to sample the red planet’s upper atmosphere and gauge its composition, dynamics and response to a stream of radioactive particles from the sun.Scientists do not know how Mars transformed from a world with lakes, rivers and potential life into a barren planet without any sign of life today.»We’re trying to understand why the climate changed on Mars — why Mars appears to have gone from an environment that was habitable, to microorganisms at least, to one that is the cold, dry, uninhabitable environment we see today,» said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s principal investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.Data from ongoing Mars missions, including NASA’s Curiosity rover, have convinced scientists Mars once had ample moisture and harbored warmer temperatures, giving it all the ingredients necessary to support life at some point in its 4.6-billion-year history.»We don’t just launch missions to Mars one at a time,» said John Grunsfeld, head of NASA’s science division. «We have an integrated program of Mars exploration. We’ve been following a path of looking for water on Mars, looking for current water and past water. We’ve now confirmed that … We’re transitioning into the search for biosignatures, past evidence that life could have started on Mars. And we don’t have that answer yet. That’s part of the quest trying to answer, are we alone in the universe, in a broader sense.»Despite an onslaught of missions over the past decade-and-a-half, including four rovers, a stationary lander, and four orbiters, there is scant evidence for how and when Mars lost its thick atmosphere, leaving a thin blanket of gas just above the surface.Scientists posed that question when developing the proposal for the $671 million MAVEN mission in 2003, Jakosky said.»One of the big questions has been what happened to the climate? Why did it change? What we’re trying to do is answer that question of where did the water go? Where did the [carbon dioxide] from the early thick atmosphere go? There are two places it can go,» Jakosky said. «It can go down into the crust and be locked up there, or it can go up and be lost to space. We have evidence that both of those happened, but we don’t see reservoirs of [carbon dioxide] in the crust that could explain what happened to the early thick atmosphere. We’re trying to explain the role of loss to space.»Asked if he felt anxious, nervous or excited on the eve of launch, Jakosky replied: «All of the above.»MAVEN is the first mission dedicated to surveying the Martian upper atmosphere, and the probe also hosts an Electra radio to join NASA and European orbiters providing communications relay between Earth and the rovers on the surface.»By looking at the nature of the upper atmosphere today, we learn about the processes that control the atmopshere, and we’re going to have a good understanding of what the history of the atmosphere has been,» Jakosky said.Fitted with eight instruments, MAVEN is set to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) Monday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.Powered by a Russian-built RD-180 engine, the Atlas 5 will ascend from the Florida coastline, break the sound barrier about 78 seconds into flight and rocket into the upper atmosphere in four minutes before releasing its kerosene-fueled first stage to fall back into the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlas 5 rocket is poised on the launch pad after rollout Saturday. Credit: NASA/Kim ShiflettAn RL10 engine on the Atlas 5’s Centaur upper stage will ignite two times, first to put MAVEN in a parking orbit around Earth, then to shoot the 5,420-pound spacecraft toward Mars. Deployment of MAVEN is expected about an hour after launch.MAVEN is programmed to radio its status to a pair of ground stations in Australia moments later, and its two wings of power-generating solar panels should be unfurled within 15 minutes of spacecraft separation, according to David Mitchell, MAVEN’s project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.The solar arrays stretch 37.5 feet tip-to-tip, about the length of a school bus. Filled with propellant, MAVEN weighs about the same as a fully-loaded SUV, according to NASA.The trip to Mars will take 10 months, and MAVEN is due to put itself into orbit there with a make-or-break 38-minute braking burn scheduled for Sept. 22, 2014, assuming the launch occurs as planned Monday.»There’s quite an interest in this mission,» said Omar Baez, NASA’s launch director for the MAVEN mission. «You wouldn’t think so in that it’s not as sexy as the rovers going over the planet, but this is kind of like a weather satellite for mars, and it’s providing relay. It’s real science.»Several more engine firings next fall will put MAVEN into its operational orbit, which will take the probe as close as 93 miles to Mars and as far as 3,860 miles, completing lap of the planet every four-and-a-half hours.»Every orbit, we’re dipping down below the altitude from which gas is lost, so we sample that column directly on every orbit,» Jakosky said.The probe has to extend several instrument booms once it arrives at Mars, allowing MAVEN’s sensors to be far enough away from the spacecraft to avoid interference and collect pristine measurements. One of the deployable platforms holds three instruments, allowing those sensors to pivot and point toward Mars while the craft’s solar arrays are aimed the sun to charge its batteries.By early November 2014, MAVEN should be ready to begin its science campaign, which will last at least one Earth year.MAVEN’s science instruments come from institutions across the United States and France. Some of the payloads will track the sun’s influence on Mars. Diagram of MAVEN and its instrument package. Credit: NASA/Goddard»Mars is responding in various ways, literally bristling with loss processes,» said Janet Luhmann, MAVEN’s deputy principal investigator from the University of California at Berkeley. «MAVEN is instrumented specifically to be able to measure what’s coming in and what’s going out.»Unlike other Mars missions, MAVEN does not carry a camera. As a cost-saving measure, Jakosky said he decided to limit MAVEN’s expenditures to those focused on its prime science mission.Other sensors will identify the gases, ions and elements making up the tenuous outer reaches of the Martian atmosphere.»This will allow us to estimate over long time periods, on the order of billions of years … how long Mars has been exposed to this loss process and, therefore, how much atmosphere has been removed in this way,» Luhmann said.One way MAVEN will try to quantify how much of the atmosphere was lost to space is measuring concentrations of heavy and lighter isotopes of gases. Scientists think Mars should hold a greater number of heavy isotopes because lighter atoms would have been easier to strip away with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles coming from the sun.»Over billions and billions of years, you leave more of the heavy stuff in the atmosphere,» said Paul Mahaffy, lead scientist for one of MAVEN’s instruments.»What got me into this were the measurements of isotopes of the noble gases in the atmosphere,» Jakosky said. «The key one that got me excited about this was the ratio of argon-38 to argon-36 because on Mars, it’s been measured through Martian meteorites and now confirmed with [the Curiosity rover], that the ratio of argon-38 to argon-36 is about 20-to-30 percent greater than on Earth, and the only thing that can explain that is loss to space, so to me that’s a direct measurement proving that atmospheric loss to space was an important process.»Earth’s strong magnetic field makes it more resistant to atmospheric decay from the solar wind, but Mars does not have the global magnetism required to hold on to air over billions of years.»We think that escape to space has been responsible for removing a lot of gas from the atmosphere, and we designed this mission to try to understand how those processes work, and see if we can measure things that will tell us how much gas has escaped over time,» Jakosky said.MAVEN will get to Mars just after the peak of the sun’s 11-year solar cycle, so scientists hope to get a front-row seat on how a strong solar wind impacts the planet’s atmosphere.»What we’re really getting at is understanding the history of the climate, the history of the volatile inventory, and I think the understanding of the history of the habitability of Mars by microbes,» Jakosky said. «I see it as a geology mission, or an astrobiology mission, because that’s what we’re getting at by studying the top of the atmosphere and its interactions with the sun.»Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: .Final Shuttle Mission PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is now available in our store. Get this piece of history!STS-134 PatchFree shipping to U.S. addresses!The final planned flight of space shuttle Endeavour is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-134. Available in our store!Ares 1-X PatchThe official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo CollageThis beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.Project OrionThe Orion crew exploration vehicle is NASA’s first new human spacecraft developed since the space shuttle a quarter-century earlier. The capsule is one of the key elements of returning astronauts to the Moon.Fallen Heroes Patch CollectionThe official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store. | | | | 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.Mars Science Laboratory begins cruise to red planetBY WILLIAM HARWOOD

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