Probe failures can compromise years of work
Photo: Xataka
The exploration of Mars takes place in a tense period. NASA recently lost contact with one of its most important orbital probes and is facing the critical aging of its entire fleet around the Red Planet. The communications infrastructure crisis could seriously compromise the amount of data we receive from surface rovers.
The situation reignites an urgent debate: if NASA is serious about the future of Mars, it is high time to send new orbital missions.
MAVEN disappears as fleet ages
The most recent inflection point was loss of communication with the probe MAVEN (link in first paragraph) last weekend. Launched in 2013, MAVEN made crucial discoveries about how Mars’ atmosphere has eroded over billions of years.
However, the value of MAVEN goes beyond science: it is a vital node of the data relay network from NASA. Its unique orbit allowed for long periods of communication, supporting the highest data transfer rate of all available options. Before the failure, the probe had fuel to operate until 2030.
With MAVEN out of commission, attention turns to the rest of the fleet, which is critically aging:
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