Washington : The US space agency -- NASA -- launched its newest Mars-bound spacecraft Monday afternoon to look at the red planet's upper atmosphere, Xinhua reported.
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) lifted off at 0628 GMT aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The trip to Mars will take 10 months, and the $671-million. MAVEN is expected to reach orbit around Mars in September 2014, NASA said.
"MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere," the US space agency said.
"The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars' atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface," it said.
