Overview
- NASA last heard from MAVEN on Dec. 6, 2025, when the orbiter passed behind Mars and failed to reestablish contact after emerging from the occultation.
- Analysis of fragmentary radio telemetry recovered from Deep Space Network recordings showed MAVEN entered safe mode and was rotating at an unusually high rate, a spin that investigators say likely drained the spacecraft’s batteries and shut down its communications.
- A NASA anomaly review board convened in February has concluded the spacecraft is unrecoverable and the agency has started formal mission closeout and archiving of MAVEN’s full science dataset while the board continues a root-cause investigation.
- MAVEN’s loss forces small changes to rover relay operations because other orbiters must absorb its workload, and the agency is pressing ahead with plans for a dedicated Mars Telecommunications Network to bolster future relay capacity.
- Launched in 2013 and operating for more than 11 years, MAVEN provided first-of-its-kind measurements of atmospheric escape such as sputtering, discovered new Martian auroras, supported over 800 publications, and will remain in Mars orbit for decades while its data continue to inform exploration and human-mission planning.