NASA has lost contact with MAVEN, a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than 11 years and one of only three circling the red planet.
Dec. 10 NASA has lost contact with MAVEN, a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than 11 years and one of only three circling the red planet.
On Tuesday, NASA said it lost contact with the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft on Sunday.
According to telemetry, MAVEN was working normally before passing behind Mars as seen from Earth. Communications didn’t resume after the orbiter emerged from behind the planet.
« The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation », NASA said. « More information will be shared once it becomes available. »
NASA, along with Deep Space Network operators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, can still ping the spacecraft along its predicted orbit while determining a cause and subsequent solution, Space.com reported.
In 2022, MAVEN switched to an « all-stellar » navigation system to minimize the use of the inertial measurement units.
