A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars may be dead
Yahoo••science
Key Points:
- NASA has lost communication with its MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars since December 6, after the probe unexpectedly began spinning and failed to send signals upon emerging from behind the planet.
- Efforts to re-establish contact have been unsuccessful due to a current communication blackout caused by Mars and Earth being on opposite sides of the sun, with attempts to revive MAVEN not possible until January 16.
- MAVEN, launched in 2014 and originally designed for a two-year mission, has been studying Mars' upper atmosphere and atmospheric loss for over a decade, contributing valuable data on the planet’s climate history and serving as a communication relay for Mars rovers.
- NASA continues to analyze limited tracking data and has used the Deep Space Network
