NASA, the US space agency, is no longer in contact with the Mars mission “Maven.” A NASA spokesperson told the German news agency DPA that efforts are ongoing to restore contact. It had been around two weeks since regular data had been received. A “short fragment” suggests that the probe might have “rotated suddenly.”
Since its launch at the end of 2013, “Maven” has been in orbit around Mars for around ten years, providing crucial data for research, especially on the planet’s atmosphere. Additionally, NASA has the rovers “Curiosity” and “Perseverance” on the surface of our neighbouring planet, as well as the probes “Mars Odyssey” and “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter” in operation.
The mission of MAVEN, which launched in November 2013 and entered Mars’ orbit ten months later, was to investigate the planet’s atmosphere and its interactions with the solar wind—a stream of charged particles that emanates from the sun.
The spacecraft delivered during the one Earth year that MAVEN’s primary mission lasted. Scientists were able to determine how and when the Red Planet’s once-thick atmosphere, which permitted liquid water to flow on Mars billions of years ago, was lost due to their data.
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