NASA's next Mars spacecraft, MAVEN, entered orbit Sunday night, 10 months after launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
"You get one shot with orbital insertion, and MAVEN nailed it tonight," Maven project manager David Mitchell said, according to a tweet by NBC News' Alan Boyle.
NASA's David Mitchell on #MAVEN arrival: "You get 1 shot with Mars orbital insertion, and Maven nailed it tonight." 1/2
— Alan Boyle (@b0yle) September 22, 2014MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, is the first Mars explorer to focus exclusively on Mars' upper atmosphere to help scientists figure out how the planet lost its atmosphere and surface water over time.
The spacecraft will spend the next six weeks testing out its instruments before moving into the science phase of the mission during which it will take "measurements of the composition, structure and escape of gases in Mars’ upper atmosphere,"NASA said in a statement.