MAVEN Spacecraft: NASA Confirms Loss of Contact After 10 Years Studying Mars

NASA has temporarily lost contact with its MAVEN spacecraft, the Mars orbiter that has been studying the planet's upper atmosphere for nearly a decade. The disruption occurred when the spacecraft stopped sending telemetry and science data, prompting engineers to begin recovery operations.

MAVEN has been in orbit around Mars since 2014 and plays a key role in understanding how the planet’s atmosphere has thinned over time. By monitoring the interaction between the Martian atmosphere and the solar wind, the mission provides essential information about Mars’ transition from a potentially habitable world to the cold and dry environment observed today.

The current communication loss is not considered a confirmed mission failure. Spacecraft occasionally enter safe mode to protect onboard systems, which can temporarily halt communication. However, the absence of a signal remains a serious operational concern.

Teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Lockheed Martin, which built and operate MAVEN, are executing a structured recovery protocol. This involves sending corrective commands, checking for any weak response signals and analyzing potential onboard faults. All diagnostics must be performed remotely, which makes the process slow and highly methodical.

NASA has not yet identified the cause of the outage but expects the spacecraft to be recoverable based on initial assessments. MAVEN’s long scientific record makes it an important asset for ongoing Mars research, and mission teams are focused on restoring full operations as soon as possible.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 12, 2025 10:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).