WASHINGTON — It’s not everyday you can have a live ringside seat to a spacecraft entering a robot around another planet.
But tune in Sunday night, Sept. 21 at 9:30 p.m. EDT on the Internet to follow live coverage of NASA’s Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft entering orbit around Mars.
Of course, there is a time lag in the distance between Earth and Mars and the feedback to Mission Control will be shared live as it happens. The spacecraft will be on its own to perform all of the necessary actions to slow down and be captured by the gravity well of the Red Planet.
Maven will orbit Mars to learn about the atmosphere of the Red Planet and how it has evolved. It also hopes to answer questions about how the loss of volatiles in martian atmosphere has modified the planet.
Maven was launched on Nov. 18, 2013 and is expected to explore Mars for at least one year.
God Speed Maven …
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