NASA announces it is ending the MAVEN mission after the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft stops responding and remains unreachable. Multiple outlets report that NASA last received a signal from MAVEN on Dec. 6, 2025, and that the agency had been unable to reestablish communications for about six months before declaring the mission over. MAVEN enters Mars orbit in 2014 and was originally planned for a one- to two-year mission, but it operates for more than a decade, extending well beyond its primary duration. NASA states that the spacecraft’s systems were functioning normally earlier, and that MAVEN experienced an unexpected loss of signal after passing behind Mars in December. While some reporting notes findings from a mishap review board, NASA officials in the coverage generally do not confirm detailed fault causes publicly at this time. NASA holds a media call/teleconference to mark the end of the mission, emphasizing that the spacecraft’s long-running observations contributed to understanding how Mars lost much of its atmosphere and evolved into its current environment. NASA indicates a final report is expected later.
NASA ends MAVEN Mars mission after losing contact with spacecraft for months
NASA announces it is ending the MAVEN mission after the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft stops responding and remains unreachable. Multiple outlets report that NASA last received a si...
- NASA ends the MAVEN Mars mission after it cannot regain contact with the spacecraft.
- NASA last heard from MAVEN on Dec. 6, 2025, with communications lost after an unexpected loss of signal following a passage behind Mars.
- MAVEN enters Mars orbit in 2014 and was designed for a one- to two-year mission.
- MAVEN operates for more than 11 years in orbit, exceeding its primary mission duration by about a decade.
- NASA holds a public media event to announce the mission’s conclusion and says a final report is expected later.
NASA's MAVEN Mars mission ended after 11 years, having revealed how the planet lost its atmosphere and served as a key communications relay for surface missions.
2 months agoFollowing a six-month battle to regain communication with its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN)… The post NASA concludes MAVEN mission at Mars, uses data to discover new atmospheric phenomenon appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
2 months agoNASA Ends Mars Mission 6 Months After Losing Communication With Spacecraft Authored by T.J. Muscaro via The Epoch Times, After more than a decade of service, unlocking treasure troves of insights into Mars's atmosphere, NASA announced on June 3 that its MAVEN mission has come to an end after a still unknown anomaly threw the spacecraft off course and drained its battery. NASA’s MAVEN mission is observing the upper atmosphere of Mars to help understand climate change on the planet. MAVEN entered its science phase on Nov. 16, 2014. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Short for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution," NASA's MAVEN mission launched in November 2013 to study the Red Planet's atmosphere, specifically how it interacts with solar flares and other types of space weather, as well as readings of the dust storms. The mission was supposed to last one year, but the hardware continued to operate for another decade, providing insights crucial to sending a human crew there with the right protection in the future. It was also able to give ground systems early warning of incoming coronal ejecta from the sun. "MAVEN has profoundly advanced our understanding of Mars's atmosphere, climate history, and habitability, making it a cornerstone of NASA's exploration of Mars for over 11 years," Tiffany Morgan, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said during a press call. "MAVEN's findings have helped shape future mission designs and have strengthened our understanding of Mars as a system." MAVEN additionally served a crucial communication role as part of NASA's Mars Relay Network, working alongside the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other spacecraft to pass along priceless data collected by rovers on the Martian surface back to Earth. It was also recruited to help observe the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed through the solar system. Mission leaders last heard from the spacecraft on Dec. 6, 2025, just before it made a routine pass behind the Red Planet - similar to how NASA lost signal with the Artemis II crew as they flew around the far side of the moon. Loss of signal was only supposed to last 30 minutes. Mission leaders then explained that "a brief fragment of telemetry data" was able to be recovered by analyzing radio signals picked up by open-loop receivers on NASA's Deep Space Network. That data showed the MAVEN spacecraft was in "safe mode" and caught in a spin when it emerged from behind Mars. The spin indicated that there was a disruption in the spacecraft's trajectory, and a review board concluded that the rotation caused batteries to drain, rendering it unrecoverable. An anomaly review board was created in February to determine what happened to the spacecraft while it traveled around the far side of the planet. Mission leaders expected more questions to be answered in the coming months and declined multiple requests to share their own speculation of what happened. As for MAVEN's fate, NASA officials said that the spacecraft will continue to orbit Mars for 50 to 100 years. Tyler Durden Fri, 06/05/2026 - 22:35
2 months agoThe first mission devoted to observing the Martian atmosphere and its evolution, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), has ended after more than 11 years in orbit at Mars and a decade beyond its primary, one-year mission.
2 months ago“I think the team has really experienced the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission.”
2 months agoNASA has declared that the MAVEN mission has ended after losing contact with its probe six months ago.
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