NASA's MAVEN spacecraft celebrates four years of orbit by studying the upper atmosphere of Mars |

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MAVEN got a selfie picture, looking at the ultraviolet wavelengths of sunlight

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft celebrates four years of orbit and studies the upper atmosphere of the red planet and its interaction with the sun and the solar wind. To mark the occasion, the team released this selfie image of the spacecraft on Mars. (Image of NASA)

(NASA) – NASA's MAVEN spacecraft celebrates four years of orbit by studying the red planet's upper atmosphere and its interaction with the sun and the solar wind. To mark the occasion, the team released a selfie picture of the spacecraft on Mars.

"MAVEN has been a huge success," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator at MAVEN at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "The spacecraft and instruments continue to function as expected, and we look forward to further exploring the high Martian atmosphere and its influence on the climate."

MAVEN got a selfie picture, observing the ultraviolet wavelengths of sunlight reflected by the components of the spacecraft. The image was obtained with the IUVS (Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph) instrument, which normally examines the ultraviolet emissions of the upper Martian atmosphere.

The IUVS instrument is mounted on a platform at the end of a 1.2 m barrage (its own "selfie stick") and, turning around the boom, can watch the spaceship. The selfie was made from 21 different images, obtained with the IUVS in different orientations, which were assembled.

The mission was launched on November 18, 2013 and went into orbit around March on September 21, 2014. During his stay on Mars, MAVEN answered many questions about the red planet.

The spacecraft made the following scientific discoveries and findings, including:

• Irrefutable evidence that the loss of atmosphere in space has been a major factor in climate change on Mars.
• Determined that the stripping of ions from the upper atmosphere to space during a solar storm can be multiplied by 10 or more, which could make these storms a major factor of atmospheric loss over time.
• Discovery of two new types of Martian aurora – diffuse auroras and proton auroras. Neither type has a direct connection to the local or global magnetic field, nor to the magnetic spikes, as auroras do on Earth.
• MAVEN made direct observations of a layer of metal ions in the Martian ionosphere, the first direct detection on a planet other than the Earth. Ions are produced by a constant influx of incoming interplanetary dust.
• Demonstrated that most of the planet's CO2 has been lost in space and there is not enough terraforming to warm the planet, even though CO2 could be released and reintroduced into the atmosphere.

Next year, engineers will launch an aerobatic maneuver by flying over the spacecraft in the upper atmosphere of Mars to slow it down.

This image identifies the different parts of the MAVEN spacecraft selfie, with a sketch of the spacecraft for comparison purposes. Individual components are identified in both the selfie picture and the computer. Note that the computer-generated image shows the IUVS instrument, but it is not visible in the current selfie (because that's what takes the picture!). (Image of NASA)

This will reduce the highest altitude in MAVEN's orbit to improve its ability to serve as a communication relay for data from rovers on the surface. Currently, MAVEN performs about a relay stint per week with one of the rovers. This number will increase when NASA's InSight mission lands on Mars in November.

MAVEN completed its main mission in November 2015 and has been operating on an extended mission ever since, continuing its productive survey of the upper atmosphere of Mars and exploring additional scientific opportunities that the new relay orbit will bring.

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado's Boulder Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university has provided two scientific instruments and directs scientific operations, as well as education and public awareness, for the mission.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project and provided two scientific instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin has built the spacecraft and is responsible for the operations of the mission.

The University of California at the Berkeley Space Science Laboratory also provided four scientific instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, provides support for navigation and the Deep Space network, as well as Electra telecommunications relay equipment and operations.

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