NASA is racing to contact a lost probe that mysteriously lost contact over Mars in early December.
The $582.5 million Maven spacecraft went dark behind Mars and may have been “rotating in an unexpected manner” when it popped back out the other side.
Maven (which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) was launched from Florida in late 2013, reaching Mars in September 2014.
Its mission was to study how Mars was losing atmospheric gases to space – to help solve the mysteries around the Martian climate and the planet’s water.
But Nasa lost contact with the probe on December 6, 2025 and hasn’t been able to communicate with it since.
Worse still, the efforts had to be temporarily paused – but can finally kick off again.
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Nasa’s Erin Morton said that spacecraft and rovers at Mars are now “emerging from solar conjunction”.
This is “a period when the Red Planet and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun and contact with Mars missions isn’t possible,” she explained.
“Nasa has resumed efforts to recontact its Maven spacecraft.
“Using Nasa’s Deep Space Network and the US National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory.
“The spacecraft was last heard from on December 6.”
Nasa is currently scrambling to work out what actually went wrong.
The US space agency is analysing data to “create a timeline of possible events” to reveal why the probe has seemingly vanished.
Nasa has created a “formal anomaly review board” to trawl the data.
But Nasa has already uncovered a major clue that might help to solve the mystery.
“Although no spacecraft telemetry has been received since December 4, the team recovered a brief fragment of tracking data from December 6 as part of an ongoing radio science campaign,” Morton said in mid-December.
“Analysis of that signal suggests that the Maven spacecraft was rotating in an unexpected manner when it emerged from behind Mars.
“Further, the frequency of the tracking signal suggests Maven’s orbit trajectory may have changed.
“The team continues to analyse tracking data to understand the most likely scenarios leading to the loss of signal.”
It’s currently unclear what caused this potential rotation or why the orbit may have changed.
One of the ways that Nasa is trying to make contact is through the Deep Space Network.
It’s a network of facilities around the world (in California, Madrid, and Canberra) that communicates with spacecraft.
They’re placed in those locations to provide constant observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates.
Another tool that Nasa is using is the US NSF’s Green Bank Observatory.
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It’s the USA‘s first national radio astronomy observatory, established way back in 1956.
The observatory is located in West Virginia at a National Radio Quiet Zone, which is a designated area where radio transmissions are restricted by law so scientists or the military can gather info.
Sadly, it’s unclear whether either system will be able to make contact with Maven any time soon.
Maven has enough fuel to stay in orbit until 2030, but Nasa insiders have hinted that it’s unlikely that communications will be restored.
