NASA's MAVEN mission observes ups and downs of water escape from Mars
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
After investigating the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet for a full Martian year, NASA’s MAVEN mission has determined that the escaping water does not always go gently into space. Hydrogen in Mars’ upper atmosphere comes from water vapor in the lower atmosphere. In the most detailed observations of hydrogen loss to date, four of MAVEN’s instruments detected the factor-of-10 change in the rate of escape. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. The University of California at Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory also provided four science instruments for the mission.
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- MAVEN
- Mars
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- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Hydrogen
- Physical sciences
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- Astronomical objects known since antiquity
- Nature
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