The launch of the NASA Maven space probe started last November from Cape Canaveral. It is the 10th U.S. mission sent to orbit the red planet. The previous three reportedly failed, and when the entire team found out of the Maven's success, everyone was on edge, reports the AP.
Colleen Hartman, deputy director for science at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said, "I don't have any fingernails any more, but we've made it. It's incredible."
Dave Folta of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center announced from mission control, "Congratulations! MAVEN is now in Mars orbit."
Meanwhile, the official announcement said, "Based on observed navigation data, congratulations, Maven is now in Mars orbit."
Everybody applauded the news, some shook hands, while others could only laugh in happiness.
David Mitchell, NASA's project manager said, "Wow, what a night. You get one shot with Mars orbit insertion, and Maven nailed it tonight."
According to Space.com, the NASA Maven space probe isn't the first spacecraft on Mars' orbit. It reportedly joined three other operational probes - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the European Space Agency's Mars Express. On Tuesday night, Sept. 23, another spacecraft will be added to the group.
NBC News reports that India's first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan (Hindi for "Mars-Craft), will be joining the group on Tuesday.
According to Space.com, MOM is a $74 million mission that will conduct complementary studies of the Martian atmosphere as well as the planet's surface.
However, NBC News reports that unlike Maven, MOM is capable of making detailed measurements of atmospheric methane - which some scientists see as a potential indicator of biological activity on Mars. Jakosky reportedly wished the MOM mission well.
As for the NASA Maven space probe, Jakosky said he hopes to learn where Mars' water went, as well as the planet's carbon dioxide.
Many believe that these gases could have been stripped away by the sun during Mars' earlierst existence, escaping into its upper atmosphere and possibly towards outer space. Jakosky said the NASA Maven space probe should be able to extrapolate back in time.
NASA officials said Maven is the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying the upper atmosphere of Mars. The NASA Maven space probe will make use of three suites of scientific instruments to measure and characterize gas escape from the Martian atmosphere.
Jakosky said at a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 17), "What we're going to be doing is studying the top of the atmosphere as a way of understanding the extent to which stripping of gas out of the atmosphere to space may have been the driving mechanism behind climate change."
He added, "We should be able to get enough measurements to tell us what happened to the water, what happened to the carbon dioxide."
According to the AP, the Maven mission will take a full Earth year, and half a Martian one, collecting data. Its orbit will reportedly dip as low as 78 miles above the Martian surface as the eight instruments it has make measurements. The craft is described to be as long as a school bus, beginning from its solar wingtip to tip, and as large as an SUV.
In addition to finding out about Mars' ancient history, the NASA Maven space probe will also be going through an upswing in dust storms, according to Richard Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement that the Maven's findings about the Martian environment will "better inform a future mission to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s."
NASA Maven space probe is amongst the robotic creations in space paving the way for the human exploration which NASA hopes to send in the 2030s. According to the AP, Maven is NASA's 21st shot at probing Mars.
To see images of the MAVEN mission, click here.
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