Up, up and away! NASA MAVEN to be launched today

Today is the day! After months of preparation, NASA’S MAVEN spacecraft will launch for Mars today from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a designated 1:28pm ETA. NASA will stream a live broadcast of MAVEN’s launch, complete with pre-launch commentary. This can be found in the video below.

MAVEN was moved to complex 41 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station over the weekend, along with its launch vehicle, where it is mounted on top of an Atlas V rocket that will propel the craft into orbit. While NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California has managed the Mars Rover projects including our favorite little rover Curiosity, the Goddard Flight Center will be managing the MAVEN’s mission, the first Mars-bound mission the Center has been in charge of.
NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, is being launched in order to study the atmosphere of Mars in order to determine how the planet went from a lush, thriving blue planet to an icy, blasted desert land. In particular, MA VEN will study the effect of solar winds on Mars’ atmosphere, something that scientists maintain is crucial to understanding the eventual fate of Earth.

MAVEN launchpad

The craft will reach Mars in ten months total, and will study Mars’ atmosphere for a year total. MAVEN will orbit the Red Planet and collect samples of different atmospheric elevations, in order to help scientists determine how the vibrancy of the once thriving planet was turned into lifeless red dust.

Along with Curiosity, whose mission to find signs of life on Mars is still ongoing and of great interest to us all, the MAVEN will be an essential craft in determining the fate of life on the Red Planet, as well as the eventual fate of life on Earth.
Source Mashable