Sleuthing for Answers About Mars

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About a year from now, the MAVEN orbiter will blast off for Mars. (That stands for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission). Scientists from the University of Colorado- Boulder will lead it. The CU team also designed special equipment to study the red planet’s very thin atmosphere. Ryan Warner talks with CU Boulder planetary scientist David Brain about a big question: what happened to make Mars lose most of its atmosphere?

[Image Courtesy of NASA/GFSC]