NASA declares its Mars Maven spacecraft dead after six months of silence
NASA has officially declared the Maven spacecraft dead after it stopped communicating six months ago. The orbiter, which studied the Martian atmosphere since 2014, suffered a spin-related failure that depleted its batteries.
Why it matters
The loss of Maven marks the end of a decade-long mission that provided critical data on Mars' atmosphere and served as a relay for surface rovers.
Images of Mars taken by NASA’s Maven spacecraft that has been orbiting the red planet since 2014. Maven is no more; NASA just declared it dead. (NASA via AP) By Marcia Dunn AP Aerospace Writer June 8, 2026 10:28 AM PT 2 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .
The article provides a standard report on a space agency announcement using neutral, descriptive language.
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