Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility technicians prepare a thermal blanket for installation on the MAVEN spacecraft's antenna.

Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare a thermal blanket for installation on the MAVEN spacecraft's parabolic high gain antenna. MAVEN stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution.

The antenna will communicate vast amounts of data to Earth during the mission. MAVEN is being prepared inside the facility for its scheduled November launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to Mars. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann