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Celebrating CU’s Bruce Jakosky and his dedication to the MAVEN mission to Mars
The word “maven” means an expert or connoisseur, an appellation that also appropriately describes Bruce Jakosky and his knowledge of—and affinity for—the planet Mars. He has dedicated the last 18 years to making the MAVEN mission to Mars a success. This year, Jakosky decided to step down as the mission’s principal investigator to focus more of his time on scientific research.
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MAVEN spots recurring discrete aurora on Mars, likely visible to future astronauts
New MAVEN findings about an unusual form of aurora on Mars have just been published. “Discrete aurora” is patchy and transient (see image), and was once considered rare and unpredictable. MAVEN’s Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) has detected hundreds of these auroral events over the last six Earth years, finding that the aurorae are actually very common and predictable near the very strongest magnetic fields.
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NASA Mars Mission Begins a New Chapter of Science With a New Leader
Dr. Shannon Curry, planetary scientist and the Deputy Assistant Director of Planetary Science at the Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) at the University of California, Berkeley, has assumed leadership of NASA’s MAVEN mission.
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MAVEN Uses Red Planet’s Atmosphere to Change Orbit
MAVEN has achieved a tighter orbit around Mars to act as a telecommunications relay. The two-month campaign began February 11 and ended April 5. MAVEN’s navigation team slowed the spacecraft down gradually by aerobraking, a process taking advantage of the Martian upper atmosphere to place a small amount of drag on the spacecraft.
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MAVEN shrinking its orbit to prepare for Mars 2020 rover
The 4-year-old atmosphere-sniffing MAVEN mission is embarking on a new campaign today to tighten its orbit around Mars. The operation will reduce the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft’s elliptical orbit from 3,850 to 2,800 miles (6,200 to 4,500 kilometers) above the surface and prepare it to take on additional responsibility as a data-relay satellite for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which launches next year.
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