APPLETON, Wis. — For nearly a month, NASA scientists have been racing against the silence of space, desperately trying to reconnect with the MAVEN spacecraft, a veteran probe orbiting Mars that suddenly went dark on December 6. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission, which has been a cornerstone of the agency's Red Planet exploration for over a decade, fell quiet during a routine orbital maneuver, leaving mission controllers puzzled and the future of the probe in doubt.
According to NASA officials, the loss of communication occurred as MAVEN passed behind Mars, a position that routinely blocks signals to Earth. But this time, when the spacecraft should have re-emerged into view, no transmissions followed. 'We experienced a loss of signal with ground stations on Earth on Dec. 6,' the agency stated in an initial update. Efforts to hail the probe using the Deep Space Network—a global array of massive radio antennas—have yielded nothing since.
The timing couldn't be worse. Since Monday, Earth and Mars have been positioned on opposite sides of the sun, creating a communications blackout known as solar conjunction. This celestial alignment, which happens every two years or so, scatters radio signals through the sun's corona, making reliable contact impossible. NASA must now wait until January 16 to attempt another revival, buying precious time for engineers to analyze what little data they have.
That data paints a concerning picture. On December 9, NASA announced it was 'investigating the anomaly,' noting that all of MAVEN's subsystems appeared normal before the probe dipped behind the planet. A week later, the agency revealed it had recovered a brief fragment of tracking information from December 6. 'Analysis of that signal suggests that the MAVEN spacecraft was rotating in an unexpected manner when it emerged from behind Mars,' officials said in a statement.
Mission controllers suspect the unexpected spin could have thrown off the spacecraft's antennas, preventing it from locking onto Earth-based receivers. To gather more clues, NASA turned to an unlikely ally on the Martian surface: the Curiosity rover. On December 16 and 20, engineers commanded the rover to snap photographs of MAVEN as it passed overhead, hoping to visually confirm the probe's position and orientation. Those images, if successful, could provide vital insights into whether the spacecraft is tumbling uncontrollably or merely misaligned.
In the meantime, teams at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are poring over the last known telemetry. On December 23, the agency reported ongoing efforts to reconstruct a timeline of events leading to the silence. 'We are attempting to piece together what went wrong,' NASA said, though it declined to elaborate further when contacted for additional details.
MAVEN's sudden hush is a stark reminder of the fragility of deep-space missions. Launched in November 2013 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the spacecraft arrived at Mars on September 21, 2014, after a 10-month journey covering 502 million miles. Originally slated for a two-year primary mission, MAVEN has far exceeded expectations, logging more than 10 years in orbit and celebrating its anniversary earlier this year.
The probe's primary role has been to delve into Mars' upper atmosphere, particularly the ionosphere—a layer of charged particles that plays a key part in atmospheric escape. By measuring how solar wind strips away gases over time, MAVEN has helped unravel why Mars, once a world with rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans, devolved into the arid desert we see today. 'MAVEN is helping scientists get a clearer picture of the planet’s past and present climate,' according to mission descriptions from NASA.
Beyond its scientific pursuits, MAVEN has served as a crucial communications relay. It has beamed data from NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers back to Earth, acting as a middleman when direct lines from the surface are unavailable. Without MAVEN, the rovers' operations could face delays, though the agency has backup options through other orbiters.
Speaking to the probe's enduring value, NASA has extended MAVEN's mission multiple times, most recently in 2022, to continue its atmospheric studies alongside relay duties. The spacecraft, about the size of a washing machine with solar panels spanning 32 feet, operates on a highly elliptical orbit that takes it as close as 93 miles from Mars' surface and as far as 3,874 miles out. This path allows it to dip into the thin exosphere while avoiding denser lower layers that could cause drag.
MAVEN is not alone in Mars orbit. NASA maintains two other long-serving sentinels: the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, which specializes in high-resolution imaging and weather monitoring; and the Mars Odyssey, which has been circling the planet since 2001 and primarily maps minerals and radiation levels. Together, these three form the backbone of NASA's orbital infrastructure around the Red Planet, supporting a fleet of surface explorers including the still-active Ingenuity helicopter, which ended its flights in January 2024 after three years of aerial scouting.
The loss of MAVEN, if permanent, would mark the end of yet another chapter in NASA's storied Mars program. The agency has faced similar setbacks before—recall the Mars Climate Orbiter's tragic demise in 1999 due to a metric-imperial mix-up, or the Polar Lander's crash that same year. But MAVEN's longevity makes its potential failure particularly poignant. 'Overall, it’s not looking promising for one of NASA’s workhorse missions,' reported NBC News, echoing the somber tone from mission updates.
Experts caution that spinning spacecraft can sometimes be stabilized with carefully timed commands, but the solar conjunction adds uncertainty. If MAVEN is indeed rotating, restoring attitude control might require precise thruster firings—operations that demand a stable link. Until January 16, the probe drifts in silence, its instruments perhaps still humming amid the Martian thin air, capturing data that may never reach home.
The broader implications ripple through planetary science. MAVEN's data has informed models of atmospheric evolution not just for Mars, but for Earth and other worlds. Losing it could slow progress on understanding how planets lose habitability over eons, a topic with echoes in climate change discussions here on the blue planet. NASA's Mars Sample Return mission, slated for the 2030s, relies on robust orbital relays, underscoring the need for reliable assets like MAVEN.
As the wait continues, the space community holds its breath. Will MAVEN awaken from its solar-induced slumber, or has the Red Planet claimed another explorer? For now, NASA remains optimistic yet pragmatic. 'No transmissions had been received from MAVEN since Dec. 4,' the agency noted in its latest bulletin, but with a decade of service already under its belt, the probe's legacy endures regardless of the outcome.
In Appleton, where stargazers often turn their eyes to the night sky, the story of MAVEN serves as a testament to human ingenuity and the vast unknowns of space. Updates from NASA will be closely watched, with hopes pinned on that critical window in mid-January.