NASA Loses Contact With MAVEN Mars Orbiter (spacenews.com)
(Thursday December 11, 2025 @05:00AM (BeauHD)
from the anomaly-detected dept.)
- Reference: 0180358401
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/11/0026246/nasa-loses-contact-with-maven-mars-orbiter
- Source link: https://spacenews.com/nasa-loses-contact-with-maven-mars-orbiter/
NASA has [1]lost contact with its MAVEN Mars orbiter after it passed behind Mars. When it remerged from behind the planet, the spacecraft never resumed communications. SpaceNews reports:
> MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered orbit around Mars in September 2014. The spacecraft's primary science mission is to study the planet's upper atmosphere and interactions with the solar wind, including how the atmosphere escapes into space. That is intended to help scientists understand how the planet changes from early in its history, when it had a much thicker atmosphere and was warm enough to support liquid water on its surface.
>
> MAVEN additionally serves as a communications relay, using a UHF antenna to link the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the Martian surface with the Deep Space Network. NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft also serve as communications relays for the rovers, but are both significantly older than MAVEN. The spacecraft has suffered some technical problems in the past, notably with its inertial measurement units (IMUs) used for navigation. In 2022, MAVEN switched to an "all-stellar" navigation system to minimize the use of the IMUs.
>
> MAVEN has enough propellant to maintain its orbit through at least the end of the decade. NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, though, zeroed out funding for MAVEN, which cost $22.6 million to operate in 2024. MAVEN was one of several missions "operating well past the end of prime mission" the proposal would terminate, despite MAVEN's role as a communications relay.
[1] https://spacenews.com/nasa-loses-contact-with-maven-mars-orbiter/
> MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered orbit around Mars in September 2014. The spacecraft's primary science mission is to study the planet's upper atmosphere and interactions with the solar wind, including how the atmosphere escapes into space. That is intended to help scientists understand how the planet changes from early in its history, when it had a much thicker atmosphere and was warm enough to support liquid water on its surface.
>
> MAVEN additionally serves as a communications relay, using a UHF antenna to link the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the Martian surface with the Deep Space Network. NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft also serve as communications relays for the rovers, but are both significantly older than MAVEN. The spacecraft has suffered some technical problems in the past, notably with its inertial measurement units (IMUs) used for navigation. In 2022, MAVEN switched to an "all-stellar" navigation system to minimize the use of the IMUs.
>
> MAVEN has enough propellant to maintain its orbit through at least the end of the decade. NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, though, zeroed out funding for MAVEN, which cost $22.6 million to operate in 2024. MAVEN was one of several missions "operating well past the end of prime mission" the proposal would terminate, despite MAVEN's role as a communications relay.
[1] https://spacenews.com/nasa-loses-contact-with-maven-mars-orbiter/
How? (Score:4, Informative)
by SuperDre ( 982372 )
How does MAVEN still cost 22mil a year when it actually only sends some data to antennas here which are also used for other satellites? Does it have a full dedicated crew of tens of people with a hefty salary, as I would suspect it be part of a crew of several ongoing missions. I have a feeling somebody is inflating their budget without any need.
Re: (Score:2)
by maladroit ( 71511 )
Twenty-two million really doesn't sound like a very large number.
Just the cost of the time they use on NASA's [1]Deep Space Network [wikipedia.org] could take a significant chunk of that budget.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_antennas_in_NASA's_Deep_Space_Network
Here we go again! (Score:3)
> NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, though, zeroed out funding for MAVEN, which cost $22.6 million to operate in 2024. MAVEN was one of several missions "operating well past the end of prime mission" the proposal would terminate, despite MAVEN's role as a communications relay.
Even more winning! It's wearing me out!!
Re: (Score:3)
Obviously MAVEN received the news of this great cost-saving, efficiency-improving measure in the wrong spirit and decided to preemptively retire on its own.
Last words it whispered to the landers: "I don't want to hear from this Earth anymore".
Re: (Score:1)
MAVEN correctly deduced that mavens are no longer welcome in this administration.