
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
Peruvian ex-President Martin Vizcarra sentenced to 14 years in prison - 2
Finding the Universe of Computer generated Reality: Individual Encounters - 3
A volcanic eruption may have catalyzed the plague's arrival in Europe, study suggests - 4
The Golden Globes is happening Sunday: Who's nominated, who's hosting and how to watch - 5
Opening Monetary Information: Your Exhaustive Manual for Finding out about Individual budget
Step by step instructions to Protect Your Speculations with Cd Rates
Pick Your Favored kind of sandwich
Reclassifying Achievement: Individual Accounts of Seeking after Interests
Excelling at Cash The board: A Manual for Monetary Essentials
Why are malnutrition deaths soaring in America?
6 Shades Brands For Seniors
Ergonomic Office Seats for Work spaces
If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise?
Visiting This Japanese City Just Got A Little More Expensive (Here's What Travelers Should Know)













