The first images of Mars' upper atmosphere has been sent back to Earth by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, or MAVEN, showing the planet in three ultraviolet wavelength bands.

The robotic probe's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument obtained the false-color images eight hours after MAVEN's successful orbit insertion at 10:24 p.m. EDT Sept. 21, after a 10-month journey, said a news release issued from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The new images depict the otherwise-Red Planet from the orbiter's vantage point 36,500 kilometers, or a little more than 22,680 miles, above the planet's surface.

The blue-colored image shows the ultraviolet light from the sun scattered, atomic hydrogen gas in an extended cloud that goes to thousands of kilometers above the planet's surface.

The green scan shows a different wavelength of ultraviolet light that is primarily sunlight reflected off of atomic oxygen, demonstrating the presence of a smaller oxygen cloud -- while the red shows ultraviolet sunlight reflected from the planet's surface.

The NASA release also included a composite image of the other images combined.

A NASA statement explained a spot in the lower right of each image that could be described as "brighter" is a result of light reflected either from polar ice or clouds.

The oxygen gas, NASA said, is held close to the planet by Mars' gravity, while lighter hydrogen gas is present in higher altitudes and extends past the edges of the image.

Scientists believe these gases were derived from the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere.

Over the span of its one (Earth) year primary science mission, MAVEN will be used to determine the loss rate of hydrogen and oxygen from the Martian atmosphere -- which will in turn help scientists calculate the amount of water that has escaped from the planet over time.

MAVEN, the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars launched Nov. 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying three instrument packages:

  1. The Particles and Fields Package, built by the University of California at Berkeley, contains six instruments that will characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet.
  2. The Remote Sensing Package, built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, will identify characteristics present throughout the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.
  3. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, will measure the composition and isotopes of atomic particles.

"MAVEN will greatly improve our understanding of the history of the Martian atmosphere, how the climate has changed over time, and how that has influenced the evolution of the surface and the potential habitability of the planet," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "It also will better inform a future mission to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s."

NASA's long history of scientific discovery at Mars and the safe arrival of MAVEN "opens another chapter," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate. "MAVEN will complement NASA's other Martian robotic explorers -- and those of our partners around the globe -- to answer some fundamental questions about Mars and life beyond Earth."