Space & Astronomy

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is officially dead due to mystery fault

By T.K. Randall
June 4, 2026

Image: Mars MAVEN Orbiter
Credit: (PD) NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center It's an end of an era for another of NASA's most successful Mars orbiters and scientists still don't know exactly what actually happened to stop it from making contact with Earth.

Launched back in 2013 before arriving in orbit around Mars in 2014, MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) was the first spacecraft ever dedicated to studying the planet's atmosphere.

NASA last heard from the probe on December 6th of last year, just before it passed behind Mars.

After that, it went silent and nobody has been able to re-establish contact with it since.

A NASA review board that convened back in February ultimately determined that it was no longer possible to recover the spacecraft and that it was now incapable of carrying out its mission.Just before MAVEN had gone behind Mars, all the telemetry indicated normal functionality, but when it re-emerged, a brief signal indicated it was in safe mode and in an anomalous orbital trajectory.

The conclusion reached by the board was that the spacecraft's batteries had drained, meaning that it was now impossible to power it back up and recover control.

Exactly what had caused this to happen, however, remains a mystery.

"The science MAVEN has given us is key to informing what kind of radiation protection and safety measures we must take before sending humans to Mars," said NASA's Louise Prockter.

"The data collected from MAVEN will continue to provide valuable insight into Mars for decades to come."

Source: NASA.gov

Tags: Mars