SpaceNews.comJeff Foust

NASA: MAVEN recovery 'very unlikely' after month-long loss of contact

NASA says it's 'very unlikely' to recover the MAVEN Mars orbiter after more than a month of silence since December 2025, jeopardizing ongoing studies of Mars' upper atmosphere and its role as a relay for surface missions. The loss compounds strain on Mars science amid Mars Sample Return funding uncertainty.

2026-01-14T04:46:58.619718-08:00