The US space agency’s latest mission to Mars has blasted off, day one of a 10-month flight. f<br /><br />The unmanned Atlas 5 rocket carries a probe which will study how the planet most like the Earth lost its water.<br /><br />Scientists hope MAVEN or the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission will provide them with some key data.<br /><br />Bruce Jakosky “MAVEN” principal investigator. from LASP University of Colorado explains:<br /><br />“As we’re starting to discover more and more planets outside our solar system and see earth-like planets and ask whether there could be life on those, we want to understand what makes a planet hospitable and what makes a planet go from being habitable to not being habitable, so I see this as a much broader mission than just exploring the Mars upper atmosphere today and learning about the history of the climate.”<br /><br />Scientists have no doubts that oceans once flowed on the surface of Mars, but what<br />happened to them?<br /><br />The prime suspect is the sun, which has been peeling away at the planet’s atmosphere, molecule by molecule.<br /><br />Upon arrival “MAVEN” will put itself into orbit and begin scrutinising the gases that remain in Martian skies.<br /><br />Learning what happened to the planet’s once thick protective atmosphere which allowed water to exist should provide scientists with the answer to one of space’s mysteries.
