CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has lost contact with a spacecraft that has been circling Mars for more than a decade.
The Maven orbiter abruptly stopped talking to ground controllers over the weekend, the space agency said. Engineers reported that the spacecraft was operating normally before it passed behind the red planet. When it came back into view, no signals were received.
NASA said engineering teams are now investigating the loss of communications.
Maven’s mission to study Mars’ atmosphere
Launched in 2013, Maven reached Mars the following year and began studying the planet’s upper atmosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind. Over time, those observations helped scientists conclude that the sun played a central role in stripping away most of Mars’ atmosphere, transforming it from a warmer, wetter planet into the cold, dry world seen today.
The orbiter — whose name stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution — has provided a long-term record of how charged particles from the sun chip away at the Martian air, offering clues to how habitable conditions may have vanished over billions of years.
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Key relay link for Curiosity and Perseverance
Beyond its science mission, Maven has also served as a crucial communications relay for NASA’s two active Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance. The orbiter has routinely passed data and images from the rovers back to Earth, reducing the strain on other spacecraft in Mars orbit.
For now, NASA still has two other working orbiters around Mars: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, and Mars Odyssey, which has been operating since 2001. Both can continue to support science observations and relay duties while engineers work to re-establish contact with Maven.
NASA did not say how long the agency can keep trying to reach the spacecraft, but officials emphasized that investigations are underway to determine whether communications can be restored.
Image Caption: An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Maven spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Contact with the long-serving atmospheric probe and relay satellite was recently lost, and engineering teams are investigating.
Sources:
AP News – “NASA loses contact with its Maven spacecraft orbiting Mars for the past decade”
NASA – “MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) Mission Overview”
