
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade.
Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend. NASA said this week that it was working fine before it went behind the red planet. When it reappeared, there was only silence.
Launched in 2013, Maven began studying the upper Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind once reaching the red planet the following year. Scientists ended up blaming the sun for Mars losing most of its atmosphere to space over the eons, turning it from wet and warm to the dry and cold world it is today.
Maven also has served as a communication relay for NASA’s two Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance.
Engineering investigations are underway, according to NASA.
NASA has two other spacecraft around Mars that are still active: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, and Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
latest_posts
- 1
Vote in favor of Your Number one kind of pie - 2
When is MLK Day? Plus, the dates of when other federal holidays land in 2026. - 3
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS reveals weird wobbling jets in rare sun-facing tail - 4
Investigating Inside Plan and Home Style: Change Your Residing Space - 5
Home Plan Tips for Seniors
The Best 20 Tunes that Characterized an Age
What to know about voluntary chocolate recall
35 million tons of food go to waste yearly in the US. Experts share tips to help stop it
Vote in favor of Your Number one Smartwatch: Exactness and Style Matter
5 Indoor Plants That Further develop Air Quality
Figure out How to Back Your Rooftop Substitution
From Squid Game to Your Party! Six Entertaining Test Games That Will Have You in Join
2025 Arctic League telethon raises more than $39k
Figure out how to Perceive Warnings while Looking for an Auto Collision Lawyer













