NASA's MAVEN Launches in First Milestone of Mars Atmosphere Mission

NASA's Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has officially launched. Now, the spacecraft is soaring toward Mars in the hopes of gathering crucial data about the Red Planet, which could inform future missions.

The mission itself began with a countdown and flawless launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41. Liftoff occurred at 1:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 18 when the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the 5,400-pound spacecraft launched into the air.

MAVEN will slowly make its way to Mars as it journeys through the depths of space. There, it will complete a check-out period before it can finally begin collecting science data. It will actually take the spacecraft 10 months to reach the Red Planet; its current arrive is scheduled for Sept. 22, 2014.

"We're currently about 14,000 miles away from Earth and heading out to the Red Planet right now," said David Mitchel, MAVEN project manager, in a news release.

So what exactly is the MAVEN mission? It will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. More specifically, its goal is to determine the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate through time. It will try to find out exactly where the atmosphere and the water went.

In order to accomplish this feat, MAVEN will measure the current rate of atmosphere escape into space. Hopefully, it will be able to gather enough information about the relevant processes to allow extrapolation backward in time.

The launch is a big milestone in this mission. Although it will be months before scientists receive any real data, the fact that MAVEN is on its way is an encouraging thought. Hopefully, MAVEN's data will help researchers understand a little bit more about Mars and, in turn, a little bit more about our own planet.