
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
Climate change is straining Alaska's Arctic. A new mining road may push the region past the brink - 2
Beddings of 2024: Track down Your Ideal Fit for a Tranquil Rest - 3
2024 Moving Styles for Kitchen Redesigns - 4
How one man's concern saved his brothers from heart disease - 5
Five held on suspicion of planning attack on German Christmas market
Which Kind of Pet Makes the Incomparable Buddy?
Benin coup thwarted by loyalist troops, president tells nation
Saturn shines with the waxing moon at sunset on Nov. 29
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches landmark Mars mission in New Glenn rocket’s first big test
6 Solid Moving Administrations for a Calm Movement
Decrease in Home Buy Credits and Home loan Renegotiating Rates: An Outline of Latest things
The newest 'Project Hail Mary' trailer shows Ryan Gosling befriending an alien in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's space epic
Banks for High Fixed Store Rates: Augment Your Investment funds
Grasping the Qualifications Among Separation and Dissolution













