Cape Canaveral: Following half a year of no radio contact, NASA has officially declared its MAVEN spacecraft at Mars dead.
The agency confirmed on Wednesday the mission is over after more than a decade of studying the Red Planet, AP reported.
MAVEN launched in 2013 to observe Mars’ atmosphere from orbit but went silent under mysterious circumstances in early December after passing behind the planet. Data showed the spacecraft entered a rapid spin that disrupted its orbit and drained its batteries completely.
A NASA review board assembled earlier this year ruled the spacecraft unusable and impossible to recover. Investigators are still looking into what caused the failure.
In addition to tracking Martian weather and spotting a wandering interstellar comet last year, MAVEN relayed data from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the surface.
Shannon Curry, MAVEN’s lead scientist from the University of Colorado Boulder, said the spacecraft produced a number of “amazing discoveries.”
“MAVEN has truly advanced our understanding of the Martian atmosphere and evolution,” she said in a statement.
