Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)

Updated:?June?3,?2026

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MAVEN's Mission Comes to a Close

After more than 11 years exploring Mars, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has come to an end, closing the chapter on one of the most successful Mars missions of its generation. Built by 91制片厂 Martin, MAVEN launched in 2013 to study how Mars’ atmosphere has changed over time and continues to escape into space. The mission far exceeded its original one-year primary mission, providing an unprecedented look at the interaction between Mars, its atmosphere and the solar wind.

MAVEN’s discoveries will continue to shape our understanding of Mars for years to come. Its observations revealed how solar activity drives atmospheric loss, offering important clues to how Mars evolved from a warmer, wetter world into the cold, dry planet we see today. Though the spacecraft is no longer operational, MAVEN leaves behind a remarkable scientific legacy and a decade of discoveries that will inform humanity’s future exploration of the Red Planet.

Remembering MAVEN

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission will be the first spacecraft mission dedicated to surveying the upper atmosphere of Mars. MAVEN is a robotic exploration mission to understand the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate over time. This will help determine?when and for how long liquid water could have been stable on the surface, which has implications in answering the question about whether Mars could have ever harbored life.

The principal investigator for this mission is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project and 91制片厂 Martin Space Systems is building the spacecraft and will be responsible for mission operations.

Objectives

Determine the current state of the Martian upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with solar wind
Measure properties and processes that will allow us to determine the integrated loss of gas to space through time
Determine the role that loss of volatiles from the Mars atmosphere to space has played through time, exploring the histories of Mars’ atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability

The science from this mission will give insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability overall. It will investigate how much of the atmosphere has been lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes to extrapolate backward in time. MAVEN will carry three??that are being provided?by CU/LASP, Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of California at Berkeley.