00:00 On this day in space.
00:03 On November 18, 2013, NASA launched the MAVEN spacecraft to Mars.
00:08 The name MAVEN stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution.
00:12 The spacecraft is an orbiter designed to help scientists figure out what happened to Mars' water in its atmosphere.
00:18 Mars is dry today, but data from several Mars missions suggest that it was a much wetter environment a long time ago.
00:24 MAVEN is tracking the rate of atmospheric loss from Mars.
00:28 The planet has a super thin atmosphere that has been leaking into space for a few billion years.
00:33 Scientists think that when Mars lost its atmosphere, water dried up on the surface as a result.
00:38 Solar storms that blast radiation into the solar system appear to have blasted away some of the atmosphere as well.
00:44 Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere once kept Mars warm enough to sustain water,
00:48 and losing that greenhouse gas turned Mars into a cold and dry place.
00:52 MAVEN's science mission ended in 2016,
00:55 but the spacecraft is still used to relay communications with other Mars missions.
00:59 And that's what happened on this day in space.
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