
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
Inn The executives: A Remunerating Profession Decision for Energetic People
KJ Apa stars as Jimmy Stewart in new biopic: See his transformation
Why Cannes Is the Ultimate New Year’s Eve Destination in the South of France’s Off-Season
The most effective method to Safeguard Your Teeth from Acidic Food varieties and Beverages
Land Rover Just Unveiled Its Dakar Rally Defender
NASA is sending astronauts back to the moon. Can you see the Artemis 4 landing sites from Earth?
The Main 10 Natural life Protection Associations
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover could break the record for miles driven on another planet
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 204 — A New NASA












