NASA has officially declared its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft dead after six months of radio silence. The agency confirmed on Wednesday that the mission, which began in 2013 and exceeded its planned one-year duration by a decade, has ended. MAVEN lost contact with Earth on December 6, 2023, after experiencing an unexpected loss of signal while passing behind Mars. A NASA review board determined the spacecraft is unrecoverable, though the cause of the failure remains under investigation.
MAVEN played a crucial role in studying Mars' atmosphere, particularly its interactions with the sun and solar wind, to understand the planet's atmospheric loss over billions of years. The spacecraft also served as a relay for data from surface rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance. NASA officials noted a slight delay in relaying science data following MAVEN's failure.
The probe's last known activity involved tracking the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, which NASA identified as a comet. MAVEN captured images of the object as it passed near Mars in October 2023, though the images were criticized for their poor quality. The spacecraft's rapid spin, which scientists believe drained its batteries and disabled its communications system, occurred shortly after this observation. NASA has not yet provided a definitive explanation for the anomaly.
Shannon Curry, MAVEN's lead scientist, highlighted the spacecraft's contributions, stating it 'advanced our understanding of the Martian atmosphere and evolution.' The mission's end marks the conclusion of a decade-long effort to unravel the mysteries of Mars' atmospheric history.