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"Removing the barriers to deep space exploration
..."

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"A commercial success for NASA's U.S. partners
..."

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"And the latest mission to Mars seeks answers
about its atmosphere ...Those are some of

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the stories trending, This Week at NASA!"

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The MAVEN spacecraft -- is the latest NASA
probe designed to help piece together a complete

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picture of The Red Planet's past. MAVEN's
piece of the puzzle -- to understand what

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happened to Mars' upper atmosphere.

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"Why did it go from a wetter, Earth-like environment
with a thicker atmosphere to where it is today?

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A much more dry, and thin atmosphere."

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Following its launch from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station -- MAVEN is scheduled to reach

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Mars in September 2014.

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Progress being made toward sending humans
to deep space destinations was the topic of

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discussion during a roundtable at Washington's
Newseum -- featuring NASA's Bill Gerstenmaier.

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"We're putting in place hardware and capabilities
that will allow us to go do the Mars-class

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missions."

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And a new panoramic mosaic image released
at the event -- and taken by NASA's Cassini

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spacecraft gives an idea of what humans might
see if they were hanging out near Saturn.

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The nearly 405-thousand mile sweeping view
of the Saturnian system includes its moons

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and rings, as well as Earth, Venus and Mars
in the distance. The image is part of Cassini's

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recent "Wave at Saturn" campaign.

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During a news briefing at NASA headquarters
to discuss the success of SpaceX and Orbital

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Sciences in the agency's Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services or COTS program, Administrator

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Charlie Bolden praised the companies for re-establishing
reliable supply services to the ISS, from

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U.S. soil. October demonstration mission to
the space station by Orbital Sciences marked

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the end of COTS development ... the first
SpaceX trip to the station was in May 2012

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-- it completed its part in the COTS program
that same year.

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NASA welcomed members of traditional and social
media to Goddard Space Flight Center to learn

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about the agency's next Earth science satellite,
the Global Precipitation Measurement mission.

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GPM will provide next-generation observations
of rain and snow around the world every three

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hours. Targeted for launch early next year,
GPM is a joint effort between NASA and the

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
For the first time, NASA's Operation IceBridge

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is flying an Antarctica research campaign
out of the National Science Foundation's McMurdo

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Station, in Antarctica. IceBridge, which collects
land and sea ice data, usually flies Antarctica

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missions out of Punta Arenas, Chile.
Ames and Langley Research Centers are working

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with Boeing on a new technology application
for the tail rudder section of a 757 aircraft.

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The technology features active airflow controls
to enhance performance of the vertical tail

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-- reduce drag and save fuel.

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And that's what's up ... This Week at NASA.