
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
This Canadian crater looks like marbled meat | Space photo of the day for Jan. 6, 2026 - 2
Gartex Texprocess India to showcase innovations across textile ecosystem - 3
'Heated Rivalry's Ilya Rozanov is now a queer icon in Russia - 4
Here's what the Artemis 2 astronauts will be doing on each day of NASA's historic moon mission - 5
Style Narratives: A Survey of \Patterns and Styles Assessed\ Design
Vote in favor of Your #1 Instructive Toy: Learning and Tomfoolery Joined
Choosing the Ideal Bed for Quality Rest and Solace
An Extended period of Voyaging Carefully: the World with Reason
Find Serenity: 10 Stunning Setting up camp Areas
Grasping the Basics of Business Land Regulation
Instructions to Redo Your Kona SUV for Improved Tasteful Allure and Usefulness
A hunger for new experiences Narratives: Motivating Travel and Experience
Best Disney Palace: Which One Catches Your Creative mind?
An Extended time of Careful Nurturing: Individual Bits of knowledge on Bringing up Kids













