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Mission record

MAVEN

Also known as Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission is designed to explore Mars' upper atmosphere and ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind, specifically to determine the loss of volatile compounds to space through time and how it has affected the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate. MAVEN is part of NASA's Mars Scout program. NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, records that the mission ended after more than 11 years in orbit following an unexpected loss of signal on 6 December 2025, with end of mission declared June 3, 2026.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Atlas V 401
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on an Atlas V 401 with a single-engine Centaur

    MAVEN launched successfully on 18 November 2013 at 18:28 UT (1:28 p.m. EST) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on an Atlas V 401 with a single-engine Centaur upper stage, and the launch/orbital information page gives the same instant as 2013-11-18T18:28:00Z. NASA's page prints Launch Nov. 18, 2013 and Launch Location Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida against the Facts in Brief value Cape Canaveral, United States committed here; it also prints Launch Vehicle Atlas V01 where both NSSDCA pages print Atlas V 401.

    Earth

  2. Orbit insertion

    Entered Mars orbit

    It reached Mars and entered orbit, completing its orbit insertion burn at 2:24 UT on 22 September 2014 (10:24 p.m. EDT, Sept. 21). NASA's page dates the same instant by its Eastern label, Mars Orbit Insertion Sept. 21, 2014 (10:24 p.m. EDT); the committed value is NSSDCA's UT one and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved.

    Mars

  3. Loss of contact

    Unexpected loss of signal behind Mars

    The spacecraft was heard last on Dec. 6, when it experienced an unexpected loss of signal after it passed behind the Red Planet. A review board NASA convened in February to evaluate recovery efforts and assess MAVEN's probable current state, determined that the spacecraft is not recoverable, and is no longer capable of performing its science and data relay mission.

    Mars

  4. Mission end

    End of mission declared after 12 years

    End of Mission Declared June 3, 2026, after contact had been lost since Dec. 6, 2025, with a Mission Duration of 12 years, 6 months, 16 days from launch to end of mission. NSSDCA's page predates that and still describes the nominal one-year science mission, so the end of this mission rests on the NASA page fetched on 2026-09-02 rather than on the archived NSSDCA capture beside it.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • MAVEN · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026