NASA Loses Contact With MAVEN Spacecraft Orbiting Mars Since 2014

NASA has officially lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars since 2014.

MAVEN loses contact after passing behind Mars

The MAVEN spacecraft - Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution - suddenly stopped communicating with Earth on 6 December 2025 as it travelled behind the red planet during its routine orbit. Yet, when MAVEN came back into view from behind Mars, NASA’s ground controllers could not restore the connection.

On 9 December, the space agency said it was examining the problem and trying to detect a signal.

Every system had been operating as expected before MAVEN went behind Mars.

MAVEN’s study of Mars’s atmosphere

MAVEN is among a group of seven orbiters that are currently conducting active observations of Mars. It was launched from Earth in 2013 and entered Martian orbit in September 2014. Its mission is to examine the red planet’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere, including their interaction with the solar wind.

By monitoring the continuing pace and processes of atmospheric escape, MAVEN has equipped scientists to investigate how Mars could have evolved from a formerly wet world into the cold, dry, dusty planet seen today.

MAVEN data was instrumental in identifying atmospheric loss as the means by which Mars lost its water. During intense dust storms, water can be lifted high into the atmosphere, where the solar wind can carry it away.

The spacecraft has also assisted with mapping Martian winds; exposed Mars’s unseen magnetic ‘tail’; identified the ‘sputtering’ process, which speeds up the loss of volatile elements from the Martian atmosphere; and revealed a previously unknown type of proton aurora.

Together, these findings help explain planetary evolution: why Earth and Mars, despite being so alike, can follow markedly different paths and reach very different outcomes for habitability.

Information gathered by missions including MAVEN can also help to prepare for future Mars missions.

MAVEN’s role in Mars communications

MAVEN has another function as well. It is fitted with a UHF radio that forms part of the data-relay network linking NASA’s surface rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, with Earth.

MAVEN is consequently highly significant to current Mars operations, and establishing why it lost communication could help safeguard other missions against comparable incidents.

"The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation," NASA advised in its statement. "More information will be shared once it becomes available."