Nasa spacecraft arrives in Mars orbit

Nasa's Maven spacecraft entered into the orbit of Mars after a 10-month, 442 million-mile journey, mission controllers in the United States have said.

Over the next several weeks, additional maneuvers will put Maven - Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution craft - into position for a yearlong mission to monitor Mars’ upper atmosphere where its observations are expected to help scientists determine how the planet lost its air.

The $671 million (£412 million) spacecraft will conduct its observations from orbit, and is not meant to land on the Red Planet.

Scientists believe the Martian atmosphere holds clues as to how Earth's neighbour went from being warm and wet billions of years ago to cold and dry.

Some scientists argue that anearly moist Mars may have harboured microbial life.