NASA today launched to orbit Mars probe that will aim decobrir why the planet has become a cold desert. Maven will take 10 months to reach the destination.
capsule MAVEN – acronym, which in Portuguese means Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution of Mars – will travel ten months to reach an orbit of Mars, where it will arrive at September 22, 2014.
probe, which cost 671 million dollars, will collect data to understand how Mars became cold in the desert it is today.
Until now, the various investigations carried out indicate that Mars was a planet with water, and therefore habitable, but the influence of the Sun and other factors caused the lost.
“When liquid water flowed in abundance on Mars – as shown by many indications – the planet should have a denser atmosphere, which produce greenhouse gases, allowing the planet was warmer,” he said on Sunday, during a press conference, Bruce Jakosky, University of Colorado. “We want to understand what happened, where did the water and the CO2 that once formed a dense atmosphere,” added the chief scientist of the mission. With Maven, “we will have an understanding of the history of Mars and its potential for life, its habitability, which depends mainly on the history of water and its climate.”
Maven is the second mission of the American Scout, consisting of small missions less costly, dedicated to exploring Mars before a manned mission planned for 2030, according to NASA’s plans.
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