
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
Top notch Remote Earphones for Audiophiles - 2
Why screening for the deadliest cancer in the U.S. misses most cases - 3
Brilliant and Gleaming: Excellence and Skincare Practices - 4
Former elite Australian soldier charged with Afghan war crimes - 5
From Lounge chair to Money: Online Positions That Will Change Your Profession
Shipping: The Corridors of Trade and the Coming of Another Period
Support Your Investment funds with These Individual accounting Thoughts
Well known Tea Brands for Each Tea Sweetheart
Step by step instructions to Recognize the Distinction Between Lab Jewels and Precious stone Simulants
2025 among world's three hottest years on record, WMO says
NASA Artemis II tracker: Where is the Orion now and when will it reach the moon?
25 Most Beautiful Villages in France You Can Actually Visit
Pick Your Number one Sort Of Music
My Dad Can't Travel Like He Used to, but Slowing Down Doesn't Mean Stopping













