NASA spacecraft returns to normal operations after recovering from safe mode event on Mars

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has returned to normal operations after recovering from an extended safe mode event, the agency announced on Wednesday.

According to NASA, MAVEN encountered problems with its navigation instruments, called Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), in February 2022, following which the mission team lost contact with the spacecraft. The spacecraft entered safe mode, where it ceased all planned activities, including science and relay operations, and awaited further instructions from the ground.

The team successfully diagnosed the issue with these IMUs and developed a system for the spacecraft to navigate by the stars. MAVEN resumed its normal science and relay operations on Saturday, May 28, 2022.

The spacecraft is equipped with two identical IMUs on board: IMU-1 is the primary unit, and IMU-2 is the back-up unit, which help determine its attitude in space. The spacecraft team will be implementing an all-stellar mode - a system to navigate by the stars without IMUs - in October 2022 as IMU-2 is nearing the end of its lifespan and IMU-1 had previously shown anomalies.

"This was a critical challenge facing the mission, but thanks to the work of our spacecraft and operations team, MAVEN will continue producing important science and operating as a relay for the surface assets through the end of the decade. I couldn't be prouder of our team," said Shannon Curry, MAVEN's principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley.

The MAVEN team is happy to report that science and relay operations have resumed after the spacecraft experienced a safe mode event. "I couldn't be prouder of our team." - Shannon Curry (@astrocurry), MAVEN's Principal InvestigatorRead the full story: https://t.co/AqWGS6wMyy pic.twitter.com/ckT9Ni7WRa

— MAVEN Mission to Mars (@MAVEN2Mars) June 1, 2022

Launched in November 2013, MAVEN is NASA's first mission dedicated to observing the Martian atmosphere and its escape. The mission's primary objective is to explore the planet's upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space.

Recently, NASA granted an extension to the MAVEN mission, which is currently operating in its fourth extended mission (EM4).