LIVE: Atlas V - MAVEN - November 18, 2013

[jacqmans]

LIVE Pre-launch and launch day thread for Atlas V with Maven:

Launch Day coverage begins on Page 11 of this thread.

Articles:

Processing:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/02/nasas-maven-completes-assembly-mars/

Pre-Launch - By Chris Gebhardt:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/11/martian-atmosphere-maven-prepares-launch/

Launch Day - By William Graham:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/11/atlasv-launch-maven-mars-mission/

L2 Maven Updates:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32608.0

[Artyom.]

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is lowered into a thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin, near Denver, Colorado. TVAC testing ensures that the spacecraft is able to withstand the temperature extremes it will encounter during its mission to study the upper atmosphere of Mars. (Courtesy Lockheed Martin)

http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/2013/06/20/environmental-testing-blog/

[spectre9]

Great picture, thanks for posting.

This is the launch I'm most looking forward to this year.

Anything being sent to Mars is a big moment for me. I'm just a huge Mars junkie.

[Artyom.]

https://twitter.com/MAVEN2Mars/status/350635217893072896/photo/1

[jacqmans]

With NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft in the background, Lockheed Martin’s Guy Beutelschies speaks to members of the Denver press corps during a July 15, 2013 event. MAVEN is ready to be shipped to Florida in preparations for a November 2013 launch.

[jamesl]

Will this launch be viewable from Playalinda since there is no RTG? I am also wondering if the planetary society and Bill Nye will show up since it's a Mars mission.

[Artyom.]

MAVEN Dry Spin Balance Test



MAVEN Solar Panel Deployment



Moving MAVEN into Thermal Vacuum Chamber at Lockheed Martin

[Artyom.]

MAVEN is traveling 39 miles fr om @LockheedMartin to @Buckley_AFB, wh ere it will be loaded onto a @usairforce C-17.

https://twitter.com/MAVEN2Mars/status/363322319545970689

[russianhalo117]

MAVEN is traveling 39 miles fr om @LockheedMartin to @Buckley_AFB, wh ere it will be loaded onto a @usairforce C-17.

https://twitter.com/MAVEN2Mars/status/363322319545970689

LINK: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html#.UfxbixawArg
Latest Updates from Kennedy
MAVEN Arrives at Kennedy to Begin Launch Processing
Friday, 2 Aug 2013 8:00 PM

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft arrived at Kennedy at 7:58 p.m. EDT inside a C-17 aircraft to complete its last long journey before heading to Mars in November. Packaged inside a metal shipping container, the spacecraft was carefully removed from the aircraft's cargo area and will be taken to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for launch processing. MAVEN, short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatiles Evolution, was flown from Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado near the Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colo., where the spacecraft was built. MAVEN is to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in November to begin a 10-month voyage to Mars, Earth's closest planetary neighbor. It is the first mission dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere and scientists hope to find traces of the ancient environment thought to have existed there.

[Artyom.]

[jacqmans]

Next Mission to Mars Progressing Toward November Launch

DENVER, Aug. 5, 2013 - Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] delivered NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on Friday, Aug. 2. The orbiter will now undergo three-and-a-half months of final processing in preparation for a November launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V -401 rocket.

The MAVEN mission will be the first dedicated to surveying the upper atmosphere of Mars in an effort to understand the role that the loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems near Denver designed and built the spacecraft and is responsible for testing, launch processing and mission operations.

"After completing a year of assembly and rigorous testing, we are thrilled that MAVEN has safely arrived at Kennedy Space Center and is ready to start the final months of processing," said Guy Beutelschies, MAVEN program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Our successful delivery of the MAVEN spacecraft is a significant milestone, and many on our team have moved to Florida with MAVEN so they can continue working to prepare the orbiter to be ready when the Nov. 18 launch window opens."

The 1,784-pound spacecraft was shipped on a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane in an environmentally controlled container. The C-17, MAVEN and support personnel took off from Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo. and touched down at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, on one of the largest runways in the world. While at Kennedy, the spacecraft will undergo final processing including re-installation of the high-gain antenna, software testing, propellant loading, a spin balance, a second solar array deployment and illumination test, and a payload deployment test.

"It was great to see MAVEN leave Colorado and arrive at Florida," said MAVEN Principal Investigator Bruce Jakosky from the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "As thrilling as it was to fly with MAVEN on the C-17, I'm more looking forward to the day when it arrives at its final destination and we can begin our science observations."

"We're excited and proud to ship the spacecraft right on schedule," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "But more critical milestones lie ahead before we accomplish our mission of collecting science data from Mars. I firmly believe the team is up to the task. Now we begin the final push to launch."

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations, science instruments and lead Education/Public Outreach. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

[jacqmans]

RELEASE 13-244

NASA Begins Launch Preparations for Next Mars Mission

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatiles Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is seen inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility on Aug. 3. 2013 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. MAVEN will be prepared inside the facility for its scheduled November launch to Mars.

NASA's next spacecraft going to Mars arrived Friday, Aug. 2, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and is now perched in a cleanroom to begin final preparations for its November launch.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is undergoing detailed testing and fueling prior to being moved to its launch pad. The mission has a 20-day launch period that opens Nov. 18.

The spacecraft will conduct the first mission dedicated to surveying the upper atmosphere of Mars. Scientists expect to obtain unprecedented data that will help them understand how the loss of atmospheric gas to space may have played a part in changing the planet's climate.

"We're excited and proud to ship the spacecraft right on schedule," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "But more critical milestones lie ahead before we accomplish our mission of collecting science data from Mars. I firmly believe the team is up to the task. Now we begin the final push to launch."

Over the weekend, the team confirmed the spacecraft arrived in good condition. They removed the spacecraft from the shipping container and secured it to a rotation fixture in the cleanroom. In the next week, the team will reassemble components previously removed for transport. Further checks prior to launch will include software tests, spin balance tests, and test deployments of the spacecraft's solar panels and booms.

The spacecraft was transported from Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., on Friday, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colo., designed and built the spacecraft and is responsible for testing, launch processing, and mission operations.

"It's always a mix of excitement and stress when you ship a spacecraft down to the launch site," said Guy Beutelschies, MAVEN program manager at Lockheed Martin. "It's similar to moving your children to college after high school graduation. You're proud of the hard work to get to this point, but you know they still need some help before they're ready to be on their own."

Previous Mars missions detected energetic solar fields and particles that could drive atmospheric gases away from Mars. Unlike Earth, Mars does not have a planet-wide magnetic field that would deflect these solar winds. As a result, these winds may have stripped away much of Mars' atmosphere.

MAVEN's data will help scientists reconstruct the planet's past climate. Scientists will use MAVEN data to project how Mars became the cold, dusty desert planet we see today. The planned one-year mission begins with the spacecraft entering the Red Planet's orbit  in September 2014.

"MAVEN is not going to detect life," said Bruce Jakosky, planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and MAVEN's principal investigator. "But it will help us understand the climate history, which is the history of its habitability."

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder. The university provides science instruments and leads science operations, education and public outreach.

Goddard manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

To learn more about the MAVEN mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/maven

[Artyom.]

MAVEN in Acoustics Testing

[Ronsmytheiii]

Maven on the webcams

[jacqmans]

MAVEN Instrument Testing Continues
Thursday, August 15, 2013 9:15 AM

Testing of MAVEN's eight science instruments began on Wednesday and is continuing today. The tests have been going well and are on schedule. The MAVEN test team will conclude this week's activity on Friday with magnetic system testing and checkout of the reaction wheel assembly. Early next week checkout of the spacecraft's solar arrays will begin. The spacecraft arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 2 and is being prepared for its launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, scheduled for Nov. 18.

[Artyom.]

MAVEN Magnetic Swing Test

[Artyom.]

MAVEN high gain antenna attached @NASAKennedy in preparation for 11/18 launch window opening

https://twitter.com/MAVEN2Mars/status/368398468533862401/photo/1

[jamesl]

I've book my daughter and myself for that weekend, hope she launches on the 18th. How is KSC handling launch tickets now? When we saw the Curiosity launch we were lucky to get tickets to the Staturn V viewing area.
Is Playalinda Beach as good as the Saturn V area? Does it fill up / close?

[Artyom.]

For NASA's upcoming mission to the Red Planet, the high gain antenna is attached to the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. The work occurred in a clean room facility high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The antenna will relay data back to Earth from eight science instruments aboard the spacecraft using NASA's Deep Space Network.

[spectre9]

Coming together nicely.