CU-led Mars mission to launch next week

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(Image: NASA)
<p>An illustration of the Mars MAVEN spacecraft, which launched in fall 2013.</p>

PHOTO: Mars MAVEN illustrationA $670 million Mars mission, led by scientists at CU-Boulder, is scheduled to launch next week.

MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, will rocket into space November 18th from Cape Canaveral.

CU Astrobiologist Bruce Jakosky is already down in Florida.

Jakosky is principal investigator of the mission which will look at what happened to the Martian atmosphere.

Mars is an inhospitable place now, but wasn’t always. Jakosky speaks with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner.