NASA engineers are continuing efforts to reestablish communications with the agency’s MAVEN spacecraft, a long-running Mars orbiter that has played a key role in understanding how the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere. Contact with MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) was lost on Dec. 6, and recovery attempts to date have not been successful.
Credit: NASA
Mission controllers last received full spacecraft telemetry on Dec. 4. However, during an ongoing radio science campaign, the team was able to recover a brief fragment of tracking data from Dec. 6. Analysis of that signal indicates the spacecraft may have been rotating in an unexpected manner as it emerged from behind Mars. In addition, subtle changes in the signal’s frequency suggest that MAVEN’s orbital trajectory could have shifted.
Engineers are continuing to study the limited tracking data to determine the most likely sequence of events that led to the loss of contact. At the same time, NASA, working closely with its Deep Space Network, is maintaining regular attempts to command the spacecraft and restore communications.
Launched in 2013, MAVEN has been orbiting Mars since 2014, studying the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun. Its observations have helped scientists piece together how solar wind and radiation stripped Mars of much of its atmosphere over billions of years, transforming it from a once warmer, wetter world into the cold, arid planet seen today.
Beyond its scientific role, MAVEN also serves as a critical communications relay for surface missions. In response to the anomaly, NASA is taking steps to ensure continued support for the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers. Of the four orbiters that normally relay data between Mars and Earth, three remain fully operational: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA’s Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
For the next two weeks of planned surface operations, NASA is scheduling additional communications passes using the remaining orbiters. Rover teams have also adjusted their daily planning strategies to maintain science operations while accommodating the reduced relay capacity.
NASA officials emphasized that recovery efforts for MAVEN are ongoing and that further updates will be provided as engineers learn more about the spacecraft’s status.
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