Credit: Lockheed Martin Space Systems
A solar array is being installed on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft at a Lockheed Martin clean room near Denver, Colo.

Launch preparations are back on for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter despite the U.S. government shutdown that has idled all but 500 or so of NASA’s 18,000 civil servants.

This post is only available to members.
Tagged:

Dan Leone is the NASA reporter for SpaceNews, where he also covers other civilian-run U.S. government space programs and a growing number of entrepreneurial space companies. He joined SpaceNews in 2011.Dan earned a bachelor's degree in public communications...