A NASA orbiter around Mars suffered an abrupt demise
A healthy NASA orbiter disappeared as usual behind Mars back in December. When the spacecraft reemerged from the other side, it was never the same again.
The U.S. space agency announced June 3 that the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, aka Maven, is over, after a review board determined the orbiter that has circled Mars for over 11 years is now unreachable.
Though all of Maven's systems were normal before it rounded the bend on Dec. 6, 2025, something mysterious happened to the spacecraft when it slipped out of view. A snippet of data transmitted to Earth indicates Maven began rapidly tumbling. While mission control would normally only lose contact with the spacecraft for 20 to 30 minutes when it passed behind Mars, the team never regained its signal.
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NASA's anomaly review board, which convened in February, determined this erratic rotation, coupled with dwindling battery power, meant there was no viable way to recover Maven. At a teleconference Wednesday, officials delivered something of a eulogy to the mission, which continued 10 years longer than the team had originally planned.
"I think the team has really experienced the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here," said project manager Mike Moreau from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Maven's decommissioning closes a chapter in Mars exploration: NASA has lost a key workhorse that both rewrote scientists' understanding of the Martian atmosphere and quietly hauled huge volumes of data home for rovers on the ground.
Whether a meteor is to blame for Maven's demise is not known right now. NASA has yet to conclude its investigation into the root cause for the incident. The agency is expected to deliver a final report later in the year.
Arriving at Mars in September 2014, Maven has focused on "atmospheric escape" — the leak of gas from the top of Mars' atmosphere into space. Its measurements showed that this surges during solar storms, when bursts of energy and particles erupt from the sun. A major space‑weather event in May 2024, one of the strongest seen at Mars in 20 years, triggered a torrent of particles that stripped away gas and lit up the planet with glowing auroras.
"We now have a better understanding of atmospheric escape at Mars than at any other planet, including Earth," said Shannon Curry, Maven's principal investigator, based at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Maven found several kinds of auroras at Mars and helped the Perseverance rover capture the first visible‑light aurora from the surface, giving scientists a sense of what astronauts might see with their own eyes. The orbiter also showed how a planet‑wide dust storm in 2018 boosted the loss of water to space, tying together dust, climate, and the fate of Mars' ancient oceans.
One of Maven's most important results involved a process called "sputtering." Put simply, charged particles slam into the upper atmosphere and knock neutral atoms into space, like a cannonball splashing water out of a pool. This process has likely stripped Mars' atmosphere for billions of years, with implications for other planets.
The mission also made some surprise finds. Maven’s particle detector picked up hard X‑rays from a distant black hole system known as Scorpius X‑1, and the team used that odd signal to learn more about the density of Mars' upper atmosphere.
Beyond science, Maven played a vital behind‑the‑scenes role as a communications relay. The spacecraft passed data between Earth and surface missions such as Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Though it handled only about 8 percent of all relay sessions, it delivered nearly 18 percent of the total data, according to NASA, thanks in part to a new coding scheme that boosted how much information it could send during each contact. At one point, Maven set the solar system record for most data returned in a single relay session.
For now, Maven will remain in a stretched‑out orbit around Mars. NASA expects the dead spacecraft to stay in space for 50 to 100 years before the orbit naturally shrinks and it falls into Mars' atmosphere. Officials say it doesn't threaten other orbiters circling the Red Planet.
To make up for Maven's lost relay capacity, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and European orbiters have adjusted their operations. NASA also plans a new Mars Telecommunications Network in the 2030s, with help from commercial partners, to provide more robust communications and navigation services for future robotic and human missions.
For the people who worked on Maven, though, the loss feels personal. Curry said the team was "broken up" about it. When asked what she'd inscribe on the orbiter's tombstone, she didn't hesitate with her answer:
"Best Mars mission ever."
Topics NASA
Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds. Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email protected] or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers.
