NASA's Maven Enters Mars Orbit: What's Next?

InformationWeek: NASA's latest ship to research the Red Planet entered Martian orbit Sept. 21. Maven, short for Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, will study Mars's atmosphere, which is disappearing into space.

The craft hopes to show how and why the Martian atmosphere is leaking into space and to study the solar winds that constantly bombard the planet and, according to one theory, may be responsible for the loss of atmosphere. Solar wind is caused by the sun's release of plasma that contains highly energetic particles. On planets (like Earth) with strong magnetic properties, the solar wind is "deflected." Mars doesn't have such a strong magnetic field.

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