NASA's MAVEN to Explore Climate Change on Mars

Earth is not the only planet to suffer the impacts of climate change. A new space probe is currently en-route to study how the Martian climate underwent a drastic change from a planet with water and an atmophere to a cold, dry, dead rock.

On November 18th, 2013, NASA launched the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. The 5,400-pound, $671 Million MAVEN spacecraft separated from the Atlas Centaur upper stage some 52 minutes after liftoff, unfurled its solar panels and began a 10 month interplanetary voyage to the Red Planet. Maven is scheduled to begin orbiting Mars on September 22, 2014.