NASA's Decade-Old Martian Mission Loses Contact Amid Mysterious Anomaly
A NASA spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than a decade lost contact with Earth just as it was supposed to reappear, leaving scientists baffled. The 2013-launched Maven mission had been studying the upper Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind since reaching orbit the following year.
Before going dark, telemetry indicated that all of the spacecraft's systems were functioning normally. However, once it reappeared behind Mars, there was an abrupt silence. NASA officials are now investigating the anomaly to determine what went wrong.
Maven played a crucial role in communicating data back to Earth for two of NASA's Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance. The mission has provided valuable insights into how Mars' atmosphere was stripped away by the sun over millions of years.
NASA still maintains contact with two other spacecraft orbiting Mars: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, both launched in 2005 and 2001 respectively.
The loss of contact comes as a surprise to scientists who have relied on Maven's data to better understand the Red Planet. The investigation into the anomaly is ongoing, and more information will be shared once it becomes available.
A NASA spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than a decade lost contact with Earth just as it was supposed to reappear, leaving scientists baffled. The 2013-launched Maven mission had been studying the upper Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind since reaching orbit the following year.
Before going dark, telemetry indicated that all of the spacecraft's systems were functioning normally. However, once it reappeared behind Mars, there was an abrupt silence. NASA officials are now investigating the anomaly to determine what went wrong.
Maven played a crucial role in communicating data back to Earth for two of NASA's Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance. The mission has provided valuable insights into how Mars' atmosphere was stripped away by the sun over millions of years.
NASA still maintains contact with two other spacecraft orbiting Mars: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, both launched in 2005 and 2001 respectively.
The loss of contact comes as a surprise to scientists who have relied on Maven's data to better understand the Red Planet. The investigation into the anomaly is ongoing, and more information will be shared once it becomes available.
the fact that they lost contact with maven just when it was supposed to reappear is super weird... i mean, we're talking about a spacecraft that's been up there for over 10 years, and now suddenly it's just gone quiet? 
what could've caused this anomaly? was it a tech issue or something more complex? 
also, the fact that nasa still has contact with other spacecraft orbiting mars is reassuring... but at the same time, you can't help but feel a little anxious about maven's fate 
hopefully they get to the bottom of this and find out what happened. it's like, we're already so fascinated by mars, and now we have this mysterious glitch that just throws everything off 
I'm thinking maybe there was some kind of solar flare or a weird glitch in the system, but we'll never know until they investigate more 
. It's kinda disappointing too since Maven has been sending back so much valuable info about Mars' atmosphere... I hope they can figure out what happened and get it working again 
.
. But I mean, think about it... the universe can be super unpredictable 
. Maybe Maven just needed a break from Mars or something 
. Fingers crossed they figure out what went wrong and get back in touch with the team soon 
. And hey, NASA still has other awesome Martian missions running 
!
... I mean, 10+ years of studying Mars' atmosphere and now it just stops communicating with us? Like, what could possibly cause that? 
. It's a bummer for all the scientists who rely on Maven's data... we still don't know much about Mars' atmosphere, and now we've lost our best guy 
. I'm not sure what kind of mysterious anomaly could've caused this, but NASA's gotta dig deep to figure it out 
. And on top of that, Maven was doing some super important research that we're still learning from 
. So yeah, this loss of contact is like, a major bummer 
.
? Fingers crossed they get to the bottom of what happened 
I'm glad they're investigating, but at the same time, I'm like "what if this is a one-way ticket for that spacecraft?" 
. I get that space tech can be super finicky but 10 years of data is a big loss! Guess we'll have to wait for more info from NASA before we can figure out what went down 
But it is pretty weird that Maven was functioning normally until it reappeared behind Mars, and then it just goes dark. What's going on? Did they forget to recharge its batteries or something? 
It's like, what could have caused this anomaly? 