
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
4 Family SUVs: Joining Solace and Style - 2
Bowen Yang is reportedly leaving 'Saturday Night Live' after this week's episode - 3
Find Wonderful Stream Voyage Objections On the planet - 4
UN chief warns he could refer Israel to ICJ over laws targetting UNRWA - 5
Malaysian broadcaster rejects altered graphic about electricity rate hike
Step by step instructions to Choose the Right Auto Crash Legal counselor for Your Case
Pick Your Number one sort of blossom
I'm 18 and founded an AI startup. I have to wake up at 3 a.m. to work on it before school, but it's worth every sleepless night.
The most effective method to Stay away from Normal Traps While Recruiting a Material Organization
Hezbollah claims right to respond to killing of top commander
Cyclone Narelle turns Australian skies blood red in ‘apocalyptic’ scenes
UK, Canada, Germany, others condemn Israel's West Bank settlement plan
Flying without a Real ID? That'll soon cost you $45, TSA says.
What is colostrum? And should you be taking it?












