In Search of What Mars has Lost

Let’s switch gears from galaxies to planetary science and talk about Mars a little. The history of Mars includes the usual planetary-formation scenarios: accretion, bombardment, possible formation of seas or lakes over long periods of time, and volcanic activity. But, something happened to Mars, something that caused it to lose much of its atmosphere and water. Whatever it was made Mars the dry, dusty desert planet we are exploring today with rovers and mappers and landers. But, we still need to explore the parts we can’t see–mainly, the upper atmosphere and remnant ionosphere of the planet.

Scientists at the University of Colorado have gotten a grant to build a satellite called MAVEN (for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission)  that will be launched to Mars in 2013 to study the upper atmosphere of Mars and chart the interactions between the solar wind and the Martian ionosphere. Its science objectives are to determine the role that volatile loss has played in Mars history, determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, figure out the rate of atmospheric escape that is still occurring, and determine the ratios of stable chemical isotopes in the atmosphere. Volatiles are things like gases, water vapor — stuff that is volatile under atmospheric conditions. Atmospheric escape is just  like it sounds–molecules of air escaping from the planet, presumably lost to space. How and why this happened at Mars is still being explored.

MAVEN is an ambitious program, led by folks at CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics–a lab where I put in some time when I was in graduate school back in the 90s. Even then LASP was known for its ability to put together good exploration missions, involving both undergraduate and graduate students. The MAVEN team is the latest, and it is led by a former professor of mine, Dr. Bruce Jakosky, who is the principal investigator.

MAVEN will have three suites of instruments, including a remote sensing package that will be built at LASP, a particles and fields experiment being built at the University of California at Berkeley, and a Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer that will be provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Also involved will be Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colorado, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will provide management and technical oversight. The mission will be controlled and data made available through LASP.  It’s great to see my old alma mater moving forward in the space biz, and I wish all my former colleagues at LASP who are working on this one the best of luck with the mission!