NASA has released new details after it lost contact with the MAVEN spacecraft, just days after its close encounter with the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, which is currently approaching Earth. The probe stopped transmitting on December 4 while observing an object that NASA claims is a comet.
MAVEN has been in Mars orbit since 2014 and, in addition to scientific tasks, it also serves as a communication relay for robots exploring the surface of the Red Planet. According to NASA, at the time of the incident, the probe was behind Mars, out of direct line with Earth, and after reappearing, there was a communication interruption and an unusual spin of the spacecraft.
What really happened to the MAVEN probe
NASA says the incident appears to have affected the probe’s orbit around Mars itself, but without direct data from the spacecraft, engineers are forced to rely on partial information obtained from tracking from Earth. Only when MAVEN re-establishes communication will it be possible to determine with certainty changes in its orbit.
Although the probe has had minor technical problems before, this is the first time in the last ten years that there has been a serious outage that potentially disrupted its trajectory. Additional public attention was caused by the fact that MAVEN was only about 18 million miles away from the 3I/ATLAS object in October and that on that occasion it took photos that were later criticized for their poor quality.
The incident quickly sparked a wave of conspiracy theories on social media, where claims emerged that the communication breakdown was linked to the approach of the 3I/ATLAS object to Earth. NASA strongly rejected such allegations, stressing that at the time of failure the object was not even close to the probe.
Harvard professor Avi Loeb confirmed that some of the footage from the close encounter has already been released, but it is not known how much material was left untransmitted before MAVEN went silent. He also pointed out that on December 19, when 3I/ATLAS will be closest to Earth at about 170 million miles, the object will be available for observation by amateur astronomers.
In addition, the position of the Moon on that day will provide ideal conditions for observation, without interference from the moonlight. More than 23 European countries are already participating in the largest planetary defense exercise to date, actively monitoring this interstellar object.
Although Loeb still claims that there are a number of anomalies that call into question the natural origin of 3I/ATLAS, NASA and the European Space Agency maintain that it is a comet from a distant planetary system, composed of an unusual mixture of chemical elements, reports MSN.