The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially declared the end of the mission of the probe MAVEN, which has orbited Mars for more than 11 years observing changes in the atmosphere.
According to The New York Times (NYT), on the 3rd (local time) NASA held a press conference and said MAVEN had effectively reached an unrecoverable state.
MAVEN is NASA's first Mars atmosphere–dedicated probe, launched in Nov. 2013 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It arrived at Mars one year after launch and has since analyzed the composition of the atmosphere and how it changes.
Since 2014, MAVEN has orbited Mars, observing the composition of the Martian atmosphere and how it escapes into space. The Martian surface bears traces of ancient riverbeds, deltas, and canyons. Scientists believe Mars in the past likely maintained a warm and humid environment thanks to a thick atmosphere. MAVEN's mission was to determine how Mars's atmosphere disappeared.
But the last signal NASA received from MAVEN was on Dec. 6 last year. At the time, MAVEN moved behind Mars and temporarily lost communications, and it was not reestablished afterward. The investigation found MAVEN unexpectedly began to spin, and as the battery rapidly drained, power to the communications system shut off.
Shannon Curry, the mission lead and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, said, "Everyone on the team feels a great sense of loss," but added, "We are very proud of the scientific achievements over the past 10-plus years." NASA plans to release its final report on the cause of the incident within this year.
MAVEN's mission was originally planned for one year, but it operated far longer than expected. MAVEN helped measure the rate at which the Martian atmosphere is thinning and revealed how the solar wind accelerates atmospheric loss. It also observed a new type of aurora appearing over Mars and captured images of 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object identified as entering from outside the solar system.
At the press conference, Professor Curry also expressed affection by calling MAVEN "the best Mars exploration mission ever."
MAVEN is expected to continue orbiting Mars for 50 to 100 years, gradually lowering its altitude before ultimately burning up in the Martian atmosphere. NASA said MAVEN played a key role in understanding the process of Martian atmospheric loss and planetary evolution.
Louise Prockter, head of NASA's planetary science, said, "The data collected by MAVEN will provide valuable insights for Mars research for decades to come," adding, "The scientific legacy of this mission will endure for a long time."