NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has just arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and is in the final stages of preparing to launch in November, 2013. One of the instruments it carries will measure charged gas particles in Mars’ upper atmosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer will provide valuable data to help astrobiologists understand if Mars’ atmosphere was once substantial enough for liquid water to persist at the surface.

Evidence for past liquid water on Mars has been identified from missions in orbit and on the surface of of the planet, but determining how long water was present is important for astrobiologists. Life as we know it requires liquid water to survive. If wet environments on ancient Mars existed for extended periods of time, life may have had a better chance of gaining a foothold.