NASA is experiencing quite a problem. One of its most important Mars orbiters, the MAVEN spacecraft, has gone silent.
MAVEN, short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, has not communicated with us on Earth since December 4. The limited data recovered since then suggest things may have gone very wrong.
According to NASA, a fragment of tracking data received on December 6 indicates that MAVEN was rotating in an “unexpected manner” as it emerged from behind Mars. If that wasn’t enough, the signal’s frequency hints that the spacecraft’s orbit itself may have changed. This, as you can imagine, is an enormous problem.
After 10 Years, NASA’s Mars Spacecraft Just Went Silent
MAVEN launched in 2013 and arrived at Mars the following year. Its mission is to gather evidence to hopefully help us figure out why Mars lost most of its atmosphere. Its decade-plus of data has helped us confirm that Mars once had a thicker atmosphere capable of supporting liquid water, before the solar wind gradually stripped that capability away.
It was supposed to be a one-year mission, but it proved so successful that it yielded more than a decade of invaluable insights. Because of Maven, we now better understand the destructive force of Mars’ dust storms, and we have a clearer understanding of the red planet’s auroras.
It also has a practical, non-research application, acting as a communications relay between Earth and NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. It’s not the only orbiter that can do that, but its loss will force other orbiters to shoulder an even greater burden.
This is the first time Maven has flirted with complete failure. Back in 2022, NASA lost contact with Maven for months after issues with the craft’s navigation sensors cropped up. Engineers can revive it by switching to a workaround that relies on star-based navigation, a solution Maven still uses today, much like you never officially repaired some broken thing in your home because the duct tape seems to be doing a good enough job.
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