Nasa loses contact with spacecraft orbiting Mars

Nasa has lost contact with a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars for more than ten years.

The spacecraft, named Maven, suddenly stopped communicating to Nasa engineers on Earth over the weekend.

It went on a mission travelling behind the red planet, when it returned it had gone silent.

The US space agency said it is working hard to try to get communications working again with the spacecraft.

launched back in 2013, and as part of its mission, has been studying the upper atmosphere and solar winds on Mars.

Scientists hope it will help them to better understand the history of Mars' atmosphere, climate and liquid water, to see whether it is somewhere humans could safely live in the future.

It has also helped with communications between Curiosity and Perseverance - two Mars rovers exploring the Red Planet - and Earth.

Nasa say that: "The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation. More information will be shared once it becomes available,"