Two New Arrivals Send Back Pictures Of Mars

9-26-2014 | Caleb A. Scharf, Astrobiology Director, Columbia University

The skies of Mars just got a little more crowded. On September 21st, 2014 NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) fired its engines for some 33 minutes in order to swing into a safe orbit. And a few days later, early on Sept 24th, India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) made history by joining the likes of the US, the former Soviet Union, and Europe, in successfully placing a spacecraft into martian orbit – their Mars Orbiter, or Mangalyaan (“Mars-craft”) mission.

The Indian accomplishment is hugely impressive. Even if Mangalyaan is primarily a test bed for a variety of spacecraft engineering designs – carrying a handful of scientific instruments – to get anything to Mars in one piece is quite something. The history of efforts to explore the 4th planet from the Sun is littered with disappointments, and quite a few unintentional craters. Only about 43% of Mars missions have had any kind of success. Little wonder that the men and women of ISRO were very, very happy.

Among the Lyman-Alpha Photometer, Methane Sensor, Quadrupole mass analyzer, and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer instruments is a plain old camera, and it’s sent back one of the first released images from this mission...

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Interesting shots of water breakdown in the upper atmospheres, and beyond.