NASA Declares Its Mars Maven Spacecraft Dead After Six Months of Silence
A NASA review board said MAVEN spun uncontrollably and lost power after passing behind Mars, ending a mission that lasted more than a decade.
- Today, NASA declared the MAVEN spacecraft dead after six months of radio silence, with officials planning a press briefing at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss the mission's conclusion after more than a decade of observations.
- After passing behind Mars in Dec, the solar-powered satellite entered safe mode and began tumbling, which drained its batteries; a review board concluded the spacecraft is useless and unable to be recovered.
- Launched in 2013, MAVEN studied the Martian atmosphere and relayed data from Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. Lead Scientist Shannon Curry of the University of Colorado Boulder said the spacecraft made "amazing discoveries" that advanced understanding of Martian evolution.
- The loss leaves only two NASA probes in Mars orbit: Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, both operating well beyond their original mission lifetimes as communications relays for surface rovers.
- "The data collected from MAVEN will continue to provide valuable insight into Mars for decades to come," said Louise Prockter, director of the Planetary Science Division, as NASA continues investigating the incident's cause.
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148 Articles
After six months of radio silence, NASA's Maven spacecraft on Mars has been declared out of service, according to an ABC News publication.
NASA Officially Ends the MAVEN Mission Months After Losing Contact With the Mars Orbiter
The agency last heard from the spacecraft on December 6. Recovered fragmentary data suggest that MAVEN was spinning unexpectedly, hinting at a change in its trajectory and draining its batteries
A Spacecraft Mysteriously Went Silent—Now NASA Officials Are Speaking Up After Months of Speculation
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Intelligence Brief… This week, NASA has officially confirmed the end of its MAVEN Mars mission after the spacecraft mysteriously fell silent late last year, bringing to a close more than a decade of groundbreaking research at the Red Planet. In our analysis, we’ll be looking at 1) how MAVEN unexpectedly lost contact with Earth after a routine orbital maneuver behind Mars, 2) the newly revealed explanation in…
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