NASA said Wednesday it will end its mission to study the atmosphere and evolution of Mars after its probe went silent for six months.<\/p>\n
Scientific spacecraft MAVEN — short for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution — went into Martian orbit in 2014.<\/p>\n
The mission was originally intended to operate for one or two years, but the probe remained active for more than a decade, until December 2025 when it lost contact with Earth.<\/p>\n
After months of silence, NASA has resigned itself to the loss of the spacecraft, which is believed to still be in orbit around Mars.<\/p>\n
The US space agency said Wednesday it would investigate the cause of the loss.<\/p>\n
For Shannon Curry, an astrophysics professor involved in the flight, it was the “best Mars mission ever.”<\/p>\n
The probe enabled scientists to understand the phenomenon of atmospheric escape, which is the loss of atmospheric gases into space, Curry told reporters.<\/p>\n
“We now have a better understanding of atmospheric escape at Mars than at any other planet, including Earth, and consequently Mars serves as an incredible natural laboratory for understanding rocky planet atmosphere,” Curry said.<\/p>\n
NASA exploration program chief Tiffany Morgan added that the MAVEN “profoundly advanced our understanding of Mars’s atmosphere, climate history, and habitability.”<\/p>\n
The probe also served as a communications relay between Earth and the robots NASA has sent to the surface of\u00a0the red planet.<\/p>\n
Other orbiters will now have to pick up those relays.<\/p>\n
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