For nearly a month, NASA has been striving to reestablish communication with the MAVEN probe, which unexpectedly went silent while orbiting Mars.
The space agency lost contact with the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft on December 6. Despite efforts to restore connectivity, mission controllers believe the spacecraft was spinning erratically based on data received that day.
NASA plans to make another attempt to revive MAVEN on January 16 due to Mars and Earth being positioned on opposite sides of the sun, which has caused significant communication delays.
Unfortunately, the prognosis is concerning for one of NASA’s flagship missions.
Since its entry into orbit around Mars in 2014, the MAVEN spacecraft has been instrumental in studying the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere, including the ionosphere, and understanding how Mars has lost its atmosphere over billions of years. MAVEN also facilitates communications among two rovers on the Martian surface, Curiosity and Perseverance, and Earth.
NASA has been unable to contact MAVEN since December 6, a day when the agency experienced a “loss of signal” while the spacecraft was behind Mars. This situation generally leads to routine communication interruptions, but MAVEN failed to reestablish contact when it emerged from behind the planet.
NASA announced it is investigating the situation. In a statement from December 9, few specifics were given, although mission controllers reported that all subsystems were functioning correctly before the spacecraft passed behind Mars.
After about a week, NASA updated that they had not received communications from MAVEN since December 4 but did retrieve a snippet of tracking data from December 6.
The findings were alarming. “Analysis of that signal suggests that the MAVEN spacecraft was rotating unexpectedly as it emerged from behind Mars,” NASA officials stated in a statement.
NASA employs a global network of radio antennas known as the Deep Space Network to issue commands to MAVEN and monitor incoming signals. On December 16 and 20, attempts were made to capture images of MAVEN in orbit using instruments aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover.
Meanwhile, mission controllers are diligently analyzing the last set of recovered tracking data. NASA reported on December 23 that they were trying to piece together a timeline to understand the issue. Additional details were not disclosed in a comment request, but the agency referred to the December 23 update.
Originally, the MAVEN mission was intended to last just two years, yet it has been operational for more than a decade. In 2024, NASA celebrated a decade since MAVEN began orbiting Mars.
By examining Mars’ atmospheric loss, MAVEN has provided insights into the planet’s past and present climate, illustrating its transformation from a potentially habitable environment with liquid water to the cold, desolate world it is today.
MAVEN is one of three NASA spacecraft currently orbiting Mars. The agency also operates the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, and Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
