
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
Remain Cool and Solid: Top Summer Food sources for 2024 - 2
Iran slams UN nuclear watchdog for failing to condemn Bushehr attacks - 3
'Malcolm in the Middle' reboot releases 1st trailer, reuniting Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston: Watch here - 4
Believe Should Unwind? Look at These Scaled down Games - 5
Palestinians tell BBC they were sexually abused in Israeli prisons
Involved Vehicles for Seniors: Track down the Best Picks for Solace and Unwavering quality
Fireballs and a full moon. Here’s how to see two celestial events this week
Hunger and makeshift shelters persist in north Caribbean nearly 2 months after Hurricane Melissa
Expert advice for new stargazers: How to begin your amateur astronomy journey
Kidneys from Black donors are more likely to be thrown away − a bioethicist explains why
Holiday travel: Best days to hit the road as 110 million Americans expected to drive over Christmas and New Year's
ICAS calls for clearer safeguards in FRC’s TCA policy
RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers plan biggest change yet to childhood schedule
The Response Uncovered: Disentangling the Secrets of the Universe













