![]() ![]() “It’s what we do,” said Jim Free, associate administrator for exploration systems development at NASA. WATCH: Artemis rocket blasts off in big step toward returning astronauts to the moon But the mission has been criticized for running over schedule and billions of dollars over its anticipated budget, leading some to question why NASA wants to send people to the moon again after all these years anyway. Artemis, approved by then-President Donald Trump in 2017, is expected to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon’s surface in 2025. The similar rock composition and stark landscape makes for an ideal testing ground for astronauts and the equipment they’ll use in space.Įarly Wednesday morning, NASA launched its Space Launch system, the space agency’s most powerful rocket ever, that’s designed to go to the moon and back as a test run for a future crewed mission. NASA has been using northern Arizona as a simulation site since the Apollo program in the 1960s. Tested in partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, it’s designed to take astronauts to “scientific sites of interest,” and allow them to work multiple days away from their home base, said Marc Reagan, Desert RATS program mission manager. The MAVEN team is preparing to celebrate the spacecraft's 10th year at Mars in September 2024.“If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The mission's goal is to explore the planet's upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space. MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered Mars' orbit in September 2014. It is then destroyed in northern spring by chemical reactions with water vapor, which is restricted to low altitudes of the atmosphere at this time of year. Ozone, which appears magenta in this UV view, has built up during the northern winter's chilly polar nights. The deep canyons of Valles Marineris can be seen in tan at lower left, along with many craters. The rapidly changing seasons in the north polar region cause an abundance of white clouds. The second image is of Mars' northern hemisphere and was taken in January 2023 after Mars had passed the farthest point in its orbit from the sun. Southern summer warming and dust storms drive water vapor to very high altitudes, explaining MAVEN's discovery of enhanced hydrogen loss from Mars at this time of year. The southern polar ice cap is visible at bottom in white, shrinking from the relative warmth of summer. The deep canyons of Valles Marineris appear at top left filled with clouds (colored tan in this image). ![]() Argyre Basin, one of Mars' deepest craters, appears at bottom left filled with atmospheric haze (depicted here as pale pink). The summer season is caused by the tilt of the planet's rotational axis, similar to seasons on Earth. ![]() The first image (above) was taken in July 2022 during the southern hemisphere's summer season, which occurs when Mars passes closet to the sun. The surface can appear tan or green, depending on how the images have been optimized to increase contrast and show detail. In this color scheme, atmospheric ozone appears purple, while clouds and hazes appear white or blue. To make these wavelengths visible to the human eye and easier to interpret, the images are rendered with the varying brightness levels of three ultraviolet wavelength ranges represented as red, green, and blue. The IUVS instrument measures wavelengths between 110 and 340 nanometers, outside the visible spectrum. MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument obtained these global views of Mars in 20 when the planet was near opposite ends of its elliptical orbit. By viewing the planet in ultraviolet wavelengths, scientists can gain insight into the Martian atmosphere and view surface features in remarkable ways. ![]()
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