NASA's MAVEN Silent in Mars Orbit: Is Red Planet Spy Lost?

• NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, monitoring Mars for 11 years, went silent on December 6, 2025, after losing contact behind the planet.
• MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) was launched in 2013 to study Mars' upper atmosphere and how solar winds affected it, helping understand how Mars lost its water.
• Key discoveries include Mars' water loss to space, a magnetic tail, and a new type of proton aurora.
• MAVEN also served as a crucial communication relay for NASA's Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, transmitting their data to Earth.
• NASA is currently investigating the anomaly and attempting to re-establish contact with the spacecraft.

Why It Matters: MAVEN's silence jeopardizes Mars rover communication and atmospheric science.