In addition to the two rovers on the surface of Mars, and the orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA have approved – out of a list of 20 candidate projects – the sending of another robot to the surface of the Red Planet. The device is called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft.

The project, which will cost around $485 million dollars, is classified by NASA as a “scout mission” – that is a lower-cost, lower-scope mission designed to support a future, more massive undertaking. MAVEN is scheduled to arrive at its target during the fall of 2014 where it will assume an elliptical orbit around the planet, ranging from 90 to 3,870 miles above the surface.

The spacecraft, which will be equipped with eight specific instruments, will also dip down to about 80 miles above the surface in order to take samples of Mars’ atmosphere. MAVEN will take measurements for the duration of one Earth year, about half a year on Mars.

The craft is designed to look for clues about the disappearance of the red planet’s atmosphere. This disappearance is believed to be the main reason for which most of the water, once present in abundance on Mars, has evaporated. Such information is crucial if scientists are in the future to conduct a project to terraform the planet, and make it inhabitable.

The University of Colorado will be the main investigator for the upcoming mission, and its research department has received a $6 million grant from NASA for mission planning and technology development during the course of the following year.