On 28 November 2014, mission control lost contact with "Venus Express". Intermittent contact was reestablished on 3 December 2014, though there was no control over the spacecraft, likely due to exhaustion of propellant. On 16 December 2014, ESA announced that the "Venus Express" mission had ended. A carrier signal was still being received from the vehicle, but no data was being transmitted. Mission manager Patrick Martin expected the spacecraft would fall below in early January 2015, with destruction occurring in late January or early February. The spacecraft's carrier signal was last detected by ESA on 18 January 2015.