Maven's mysteries: An inside look at NASA's next Mars mission - NBC News.com

Engineers and technicians close up the payload fairing for NASA's Maven spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for the Mars probe's Nov. 18 launch. Maven is due to enter Martian orbit next year and study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere in unprecedented detail. 

Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News

 "NASA's Maven orbiter is designed to follow up on a huge question surrounding past findings about Mars: If the Red Planet was once far more hospitable to life, what happened?"