Mars just acquired a new orbiting robot buddy.

At 7:24 p.m. PDT (10:24 p.m. EDT) on Sunday (Sept. 21), NASAs Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft arrived at Mars orbit after an epic 10-month journey to the Red Planet. MAVEN joins an armada of Mars satellites, but it is the first mission to the planet that will study the thin Martian upper atmosphere in mind-blowing detail. The mission wont only add detail to our increasingly comprehensive knowledge of our solar system neighbor, it will also aid future manned missions.

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As the first orbiter dedicated to studying Mars upper atmosphere, 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 in a space agency news release. It also will better inform a future mission to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s.

MAVEN joins two existing NASA Mars orbiters the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey and the European Mars Express mission. The Indian Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is scheduled to also arrive at Mars on Thursday. The soon-to-be fleet of 5 satellites will continue to support and supplement the science being acquired by NASAs Mars rover Curiosity and Opportunity as they work on the ground.

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NASA has a 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 at the agencys Headquarters in Washington. Maven will complement NASAs other Martian robotic explorers and those of our partners around the globe to answer some fundamental questions about Mars and life beyond Earth.

Now that MAVEN is safely in the clutches of Martian gravity, mission operators are set to begin a 6-week commissioning plan that will prepare the satellites instrumentation for a planned one-year observation campaign. Worked into the spacecrafts primary mission is a series of deep-dip orbits that will see MAVEN lunge from its normal 93 mile-high closest approach (periapsis) to just 77 miles from the Martian surface. This will enable scientists to study the high-altitude layering of Mars tenuous atmosphere.

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So, as we await MAVEN to begin its fruitful campaign high above Mars, we can look forward to the Indian mission that will hopefully also arrive safely on Sept. 25.

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NASA's MAVEN Mission Arrives at Mars