A veteran spacecraft has sniffed the Martian atmosphere for the last time. More than a decade after the MAVEN orbiter arrived at Mars and six months after it unexpectedly went quiet, NASA has officially declared the mission over.<\/p>\n
With it, NASA loses a workhorse science resource and a crucial link in the communications network between rovers on Mars and scientists on Earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conclusion is that the spacecraft is not recoverable,\u201d said project manager Mike Moreau of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., at a June 3 news conference. \u201cThe team has really experienced the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here.\u201d<\/p>\n