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Story summary
- NASA decommissioned MAVEN in June 2026 after losing contact in December 2025, ending its 11-year mission.
- Launched November 2013, MAVEN entered Mars orbit September 2014 and operated far beyond its two-year design.
- MAVEN measured atmospheric escape, showing solar storms boost gas loss and discovered planet-wide auroras.
- Telemetry showed MAVEN spinning at ~2.7 rev/min, draining batteries while the mission yielded 800+ papers and supplied 18% of Mars science data and 8% of relay sessions.
