NASA loses contact with MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars since 2014 after 3I/ATLAS flyby

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists are baffled after the agency lost contact with a spacecraft named Maven (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) on December 6, 2025.

Maven, which had been orbiting Mars for more than a decade, ceased all communication with NASA ground stations before vanishing behind the red planet as part of its regular orbit.

NASA said teams were trying to determine the cause of the issue and assessing if Maven could be brought back online, adding, “More information will be shared once it becomes available.”

The spacecraft was launched in 2013 from Earth with a purpose to gather data from the red planet’s upper atmosphere and its interactions with the Sun.

Maven reached Martian orbit on September 21, 2014, and its disappearance could put an end to more than 10 years of critical scientific work.

The development comes after humanity's third recorded interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS soared past Mars in October this year.

Maven was deployed on a new duty to create unique images of the passing comet on September 27, which proved highly useful for scientists to determine the chemical composition of the space rock.

Several online theories have emerged in the wake of new development, with one user claiming, writing, “The comet 3I/ATLAS took it,” while another chimed in, “Aliens got it.”

Other than Maven, NASA has deployed two other spacecraft, including The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005, and Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001, in the red planet’s orbit.