NASA Ends MAVEN Mars Mission After 11 Years of Service

NASA has officially ended the mission of its MAVEN spacecraft after losing contact with the Mars orbiter in December and determining it cannot be recovered. The decision concludes more than a decade of scientific study and communications support at the Red Planet.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft last communicated with Earth on Dec. 6, 2025, after passing behind Mars. When it failed to reestablish contact as expected, engineers began an investigation. Data from NASA's Deep Space Network indicated the spacecraft had entered a safe mode and was rotating at an unusually high rate upon emerging from behind the planet. An anomaly review board concluded this rapid spin disrupted MAVEN's orbit and drained its batteries, leaving the communications system without power and the spacecraft in an unrecoverable state. The root cause of the initial anomaly remains under investigation, with a final report expected later this year.

Launched in November 2013, MAVEN arrived at Mars in September 2014 on a primary mission to study the planet's upper atmosphere. It operated for over 11 years, far exceeding its planned one-year science mission. The spacecraft was the...