NASA Wrestles With Mars Communication as Solar Challenge Looms

NASA continues its attempts to establish contact with the Mars Orbiter MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN), which stopped responding on December 6. In collaboration with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the MAVEN team has sent commands to restore the spacecraft’s functionality and is monitoring for a signal.

The MAVEN team is also analyzing telemetry fragments received on December 6 during a radio wave experiment. This information is used to construct a timeline of possible events and determine the most probable cause of the problem. MAVEN, launched in November 2013, is tasked with studying Mars’ upper atmosphere. Its scientific mission focuses on analyzing the planet’s climate and atmospheric evolution, contributing to our understanding of potential habitability.

On December 16 and 20, the Curiosity rover team attempted to capture an image of MAVEN in its reference orbit using the rover’s Mastcam instrument. MAVEN was not detected.

The upcoming solar conjunction-a period when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun-begins on December 29. NASA will be unable to maintain communication with any Mars missions until January 16. During solar conjunction, communication with Mars missions is hindered by solar interference, which can corrupt data transmission. It’s a biannual event that affects mission planning significantly. After the solar conjunction period ends, NASA plans to renew efforts to reestablish contact with MAVEN.