
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
More parents refusing vitamin K shots for newborns, study finds - 2
Trump announces 'Patriot Games' with 2 competitors from every state and territory: What we know - 3
Investigate Business Mastercard Choices for Better Rewards and Rewards - 4
Vinicultural Investigation: A Survey of \Enjoying Fine Vintages\ Wine sampling - 5
Audits of 6 European Busssiness Class Flights
Satellite constellations could obscure most space telescope observations by late 2030s: 'That part of the image will be forever lost'
The Best Design Bloggers for Style Motivation
The most effective method to Pick a Campervan That Offers Something else for Less
‘The White Lotus’ sparked online interest in risky anxiety pills, study says
Pick Your Favored kind of soup
Tracking down the Right Equilibrium: Charges versus Personal Costs in Senior Protection.
Vote In favor of Your Favored Sort Of Bevarage
German police 'cleared path for fascists with batons,' protesters say
What we know about Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis












