【By Observer News, Chen Sijia】According to a report by Associated Press on December 10, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which has been operating in orbit around Mars for more than a decade, suddenly lost contact with the ground station. The NASA mission team is investigating this anomaly.
NASA stated that the MAVEN spacecraft has been orbiting Mars, and the last signal received by the ground station was on December 6 local time. The telemetry data sent back previously showed that all equipment was functioning normally before the spacecraft moved behind Mars, but after reappearing from behind Mars, the NASA Deep Space Network failed to receive any signal.
NASA said in a statement: "The mission control team is investigating the anomaly to resolve the issue as soon as possible."
Artistic concept image of the MAVEN spacecraft NASA
The MAVEN spacecraft was launched in November 2013 and entered Mars orbit in September 2014, having operated in orbit for 11 years. The mission of this spacecraft is to study the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and their interaction with the Sun and solar wind of Mars, thereby investigating the process of atmospheric loss from Mars into space.
NASA stated that deepening the understanding of the loss of Mars' atmosphere helps scientists study the evolution of Mars' atmosphere and climate, the conditions for the existence of liquid water, and the habitability of Mars. Associated Press pointed out that many astronomers speculate that the loss of Mars' atmosphere into space is related to solar activity, possibly due to solar activity turning Mars into a dry and cold planet.
In addition, the MAVEN spacecraft also serves as a communication relay station, providing relay communication for NASA's "Curiosity" and "Perseverance" Mars rovers.
The U.S. "Space.com" reported that although the MAVEN spacecraft has long exceeded its designed service life, it has enough propellant to continue operating until at least 2030. Last year, the cost of operating MAVEN in orbit was $22.6 million.
Other than the MAVEN spacecraft, NASA currently also has the "Mars Odyssey" probe and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) deployed in Mars orbit, but they are older than MAVEN. "Mars Odyssey" was launched in 2001 and is facing the risk of running out of fuel; MRO was launched in 2005, currently has sufficient fuel, but also faces the problem of aging equipment.
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Original: toutiao.com/article/7582530527626904110/
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