NASA loses contact with Mars orbiter. What to know about MAVEN mission

NASA has lost contact with its MAVEN spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than a decade. The orbiter, one of three zooming around Mars' atmosphere, had been working as expected before it suddenly ceased communications with ground stations earlier in December, NASA said. The U.S. space agency added that it is working to determine what caused the issue and restore communications. While MAVEN has spent years studying Mars' upper atmosphere, it's also made other discoveries during its mis