Mars Maven mission arrives in orbit

The US space agency's (Nasa) latest Mars satellite has arrived successfully in orbit above the planet, the BBC reported.

Hurtling through space for the past 10 months, the Maven craft slammed on the brakes by firing its thrusters.

The 33-minute burn removed sufficient speed to allow the satellite to be captured by Mars' gravity.

Maven has been sent to study the Red Planet's high atmosphere, to try to understand the processes that have robbed the world of most of its air.

Today, the air pressure is so low that free water at the surface would instantly boil away.

Maven's data will enable scientists to build better models of current and past climate conditions on Mars.

"Previous spacecraft have made measurements and we've learned a lot about the upper-atmosphere, but we haven't been able to put the whole end-to-end picture together," said principal investigator Bruce Jakosky.

"I'm hoping Maven will be a mission of discovery, that almost everything we observe will lead us to fundamental new insights about the Mars environment today and how it has evolved over time," the University of Colorado, Boulder, researcher added.