NASA teams are working to restore contact with one of its most advanced interplanetary satellites.

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is one of only three NASA missions currently in operation around Mars, and one of five spacecraft serving as a communications relay for the space agency's rover missions on the Martian surface.

During routine operations on Dec. 6, NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) lost communications with MAVEN as it orbited behind the planet. This type of loss of signal (LOS) is anticipated by NASA's tracking systems, which usually reestablish connections with distant spacecraft after they are temporarily blocked by planetary bodies. As MAVEN was expected to emerge from Mars' far side, however, DSN failed to reacquire a signal, according to a Dec. 9 NASA update.

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