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NASA has mislaid interaction with its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, the Mars orbiter that has worked for much than a decennary to survey however the planet’s ambiance is escaping into space. The spacecraft went soundless successful aboriginal December and engineers are inactive trying to re-establish communication.
MAVEN’s occupation astatine Mars has been to measurement the bladed precocious ambiance and the ionosphere (charged particles precocious supra the surface), and to ticker however sunlight and the star upwind interact with them. Those measurements assistance scientists estimation however Mars went from a satellite that erstwhile had flowing h2o to the cold, adust satellite we spot today.
Beyond science, MAVEN besides carries a relay vigor that tin walk messages betwixt the world and rovers connected the ground, including NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance.
On December 4, MAVEN sent its past afloat acceptable of regular “health” information astir its systems. Two days aboriginal it passed down Mars from the earth’s constituent of view. This benignant of impermanent blackout is normal: erstwhile a satellite blocks the enactment of sight, vigor signals can’t get through. But aft MAVEN was expected to reappear, NASA’s Deep Space Network didn’t observe its accustomed signal. NASA publically described the occupation connected December 9 and said it was investigating.
In an update connected December 15, NASA reported a tiny clue: during an ongoing vigor subject campaign, the squad recovered a little fragment of tracking information from December 6. From that fragment, NASA said MAVEN appeared to beryllium rotating successful an unexpected mode erstwhile it emerged from down Mars. The signal’s frequence besides suggested MAVEN’s orbit whitethorn person changed. NASA hasn’t yet said what caused these changes.
MAVEN orbits Mars and repeatedly samples antithetic heights supra the planet, which is utile due to the fact that the precocious ambiance changes with clip of day, season, and star activity. Its instruments measurement gases and ions arsenic good arsenic the star upwind and magnetic situation astir Mars. When it serves arsenic a relay, MAVEN receives abbreviated UHF (ultra-high-frequency) transmissions from a rover, past sends the information backmost to the world utilizing a precocious powerfulness vigor link.
With MAVEN having gone silent, NASA has shifted much relay enactment to different orbiters, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, and has coordinated with European orbiters arsenic needed arsenic well.
NASA launched MAVEN successful November 2013 from Cape Canaveral successful Florida. After a months-long cruise done interplanetary space, it reached Mars and entered orbit successful September 2014. MAVEN was designed for a two-year superior ngo but has continued operating connected an extended ngo since, gathering a agelong grounds of however Mars’s precocious ambiance responds to the Sun.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), oregon Mangalyaan, entered Mars orbit connected September 24, 2014, days aft MAVEN arrived. The Indian Space Research Organisation framed MOM arsenic a exertion demonstrator, with 5 instruments added for basal imaging and atmospheric studies.
Many successful India often compared MOM to MAVEN astatine the clip utilizing their header costs — astir ₹450 crore for MOM v. $671 cardinal for MAVEN — but the missions were built for antithetic goals and payloads. MAVEN was besides the much technically ambitious subject mission.
