NASA Declares End Of MAVEN Mars Orbiter After Six Months Of Silence
NASA said on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, that it could not recover the MAVEN Mars orbiter and has declared the mission over.[1]
The declaration ends NASA's attempts to restore contact after the spacecraft fell silent following a December occultation behind Mars.[1]
The spacecraft's last successful contact came on December 6, 2025, just before it passed behind Mars during a planned occultation.[1] An anomaly review board is investigating the loss, and Deep Space Network telemetry shows MAVEN was rotating at about 2.7 revolutions per minute after the occultation.[1]
MAVEN cost about $582 million and launched on November 18, 2013; it was originally designed for a one-year mission that NASA repeatedly extended.[1]
NASA officials said the review board will continue analyzing Deep Space Network records to determine the cause before the agency formally closes out mission operations.[1]
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📌 Key Facts
- NASA said on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, that the MAVEN Mars orbiter could not be recovered and declared its mission over.
- The last successful communication with MAVEN occurred on December 6, 2025, just before it passed behind Mars during a planned occultation.
- MAVEN cost about $582 million, launched November 18, 2013, and was originally designed for a one-year mission that was repeatedly extended.
- An anomaly review board is investigating the loss, including Deep Space Network data showing the spacecraft rotating at about 2.7 RPM after the occultation.
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