After six months of radio silence, NASA's Maven spacecraft orbiting Mars has been officially declared dead. The space agency confirmed on Wednesday that the mission, which lasted more than a decade, had come to an end.
"The team really did experience the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here," said NASA project manager Mike Moreau.
Launched in 2013 to study the red planet's atmosphere from orbit, Maven mysteriously fell silent in early December after passing behind Mars. Data indicated that the spacecraft entered a fast spin, which disrupted its orbit and drained its onboard batteries.
A review board convened by NASA earlier this year concluded that the spacecraft is useless and cannot be recovered. It is expected to remain in orbit for another 50 to 100 years before crashing into the planet, posing no threat to other spacecraft until then. An investigation into the cause of the problem continues.
Besides studying Martian weather and observing a stray interstellar comet last year, Maven helped relay information from NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the surface. NASA officials stated that four other spacecraft around Mars—two American and two European satellites—will take over the relay duties, ensuring no rover science is lost.
"The team is certainly broken up about this, but at the same time we are incredibly proud of the science we've accomplished over the last decade," said Maven's lead scientist, Shannon Curry of the University of Colorado Boulder. The spacecraft significantly advanced scientists' understanding of the Martian atmosphere and its evolution, Curry added.
