
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
Iran's stolen futures: The arrested Iranians at risk of execution by the regime - 2
Born under fire: MDA delivers baby in Jerusalem minutes before rushing to shelter - 3
Birds at a college changed beak shapes during the pandemic. It might be a case of rapid evolution - 4
Health insurance premiums rose nearly 3x the rate of worker earnings over the past 25 years - 5
Astronaut on ISS captures spectacular orbital video of zodiacal light, auroras and the Pleiades
High-Suggested Broilers For Your Homes
From Sea shores to Urban areas: Astonishing Worldwide Travel Objections
Iran steps up executions as experts warn state killing being used to suppress political dissent
Activists guilty over Palestine protest breach
Careful Nurturing: Techniques for Bringing up Tough Children
23 Most Amusing Messages At any point Sent Among Kids and Their Folks
Rights group: At least 2,500 deaths during protest crackdown in Iran
'We were genuinely astonished': This moss survived 9 months outside the International Space Station and could still grow on Earth
Baidu robotaxi outage in Wuhan caused by 'system failure', police say













