- \n
- Robotic Forum Section<\/li>\n
- MSL Forum Section<\/li>\n
- L2 Mars Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) \u2013 famed for their Martian missions, are providing navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations for this effort.<\/p>\n
The orbiter is being built at Lockheed Martin\u2019s Littleton facility in Colorado. The company will also be responsible for the spacecraft\u2019s mission operations.<\/p>\n
![\"Earlier](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Z54.jpg\" "\\"Earlier")
With assembly now complete, MAVEN is now undergoing environmental testing at the company\u2019s Space Systems facilities, near Denver.<\/p>\nRocket building kits
<\/path>Aerospace & Defense <\/path>Space Technology <\/path>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
\u201cThe assembly and integration of MAVEN has gone very smoothly and we\u2019re excited to test our work over the next six months,\u201d said Guy Beutelschies, MAVEN program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. \u201cEnvironmental testing is a crucial set of activities designed to ensure the spacecraft can operate in the extreme conditions of space.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the environmental testing phase, the orbiter will undergo a variety of rigorous tests that simulate the extreme temperatures, vacuum and vibration the spacecraft will experience during the course of its mission.<\/p>\n
Click here for Mars News Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/mars\/<\/p>\n
Currently, the spacecraft is in the company\u2019s Reverberant Acoustic Laboratory being prepared to undergo acoustics testing that simulates the maximum sound and vibration levels the spacecraft will experience during launch.<\/p>\n
![\"MAVEN](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Z44.jpg\" "\\"MAVEN")
\u201cI\u2019m very pleased with how our team has designed and built the spacecraft and science instruments that will make our measurements,\u201d added Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder\u2019s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got an exciting science mission planned, and the environmental testing now is what will ensure that we are ready for launch and for the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the acoustics test, MAVEN will be subjected to barrage of additional tests, including: separation\/deployment shock, sine vibration, electromagnetic interference\/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI\/EMC), and magnetics testing.<\/p>\n
The phase concludes with a thermal vacuum test where the spacecraft and its instruments are exposed to the vacuum and extreme hot and cold temperatures it will face in space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis phase of the program is particularly important in that it will provide us with a good assessment of the MAVEN system\u2019s capabilities under the simulated extremes of the space environment,\u201d noted David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Z33.jpg\" "\\"Z3\\"")
\u201cOf significance, the spacecraft is entering system level test right on schedule, while maintaining robust cost and schedule reserves to deal with the technical or programmatic surprises that could occur during test or in the run to launch. Tracking on plan is critically important to being ready for launch later this year and the science that MAVEN will deliver one year later.\u201d<\/p>\nMAVEN is scheduled to ship from Lockheed Martin\u2019s facility to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in early August where it will undergo final preparations for launch \u2013 scheduled for November.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft will be launched by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V, utilizing its 401 configuration.<\/p>\n
![\"MAVEN](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Z62.jpg\" "\\"MAVEN")
The launch window to Mars for this mission ranges between November 18, 2013 and December 7, 2013. Assuming a November 18 launch, MAVEN will be inserted on September 22, 2014 into an elliptic orbit 6,200 km (3,900 mi) by 150 km (93 mi) above the planet\u2019s surface.<\/p>\nMAVEN is scheduled to conduct operations over a one year mission period, although that could be extended based on the health of the spacecraft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis mission will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars\u2019 evolution,\u201d noted Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of Mars\u2019 atmosphere has been an ongoing mystery. MAVEN will help us solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Images via Lockheed Martin and NASA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lockheed Martin engineers have completed the assembly of NASA\u2019s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, ahead of shipping to the Kennedy Space Center in August. MAVEN is scheduled to launch towards Mars in November \u2013 where it will study the Martian upper atmosphere. NASA MAVEN: MAVEN is a robotic exploration mission to understand the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4129,367,3370],"class_list":["post-39913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-jpl","tag-mars","tag-maven"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}