NASA has lost contact with its Mars orbiter, MAVEN, just weeks after the spacecraft gathered critical data during a close fly-by of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. The sudden silence from the veteran spacecraft has fuelled speculation that crucial images of the mysterious object may now be inaccessible.
The orbiter, which has been operational since 2014, failed to re-establish communication with the Deep Space Network on 6 December following a routine occultation behind Mars. The timing has raised questions, as MAVEN was in a prime position to observe the comet, only the third interstellar object ever detected in our solar system.
