The mission that was supposed to last one year became a mission that lasted eleven
Durante mais de onze anos, a sonda Maven girou em torno de Marte em silêncio científico, desvendando como o planeta perdeu a sua atmosfera ao longo de três mil milhões de anos. Em dezembro passado, um sinal inesperado desapareceu enquanto a sonda passava por detrás de Marte, e a NASA concluiu esta semana que não seria possível recuperá-la. A missão que deveria durar um ano tornou-se uma das mais longevas da agência, e mesmo imóvel no espaço, a Maven continuará em órbita durante décadas — um testemunho silencioso da curiosidade humana perante mundos que já foram outros.
- A NASA perdeu contacto com a Maven a 6 de dezembro sem aviso prévio, enquanto a sonda passava por detrás de Marte — um momento de rotina que se tornou o último.
- A investigação revelou que a sonda começou a rodar a 2,7 rotações por minuto, um comportamento anómalo que terá esgotado as baterias e cortado as comunicações.
- Após seis meses de tentativas e análise, a agência declarou a missão encerrada, reconhecendo que a recuperação era impossível.
- A perda da Maven introduz um pequeno atraso na transmissão de dados dos rovers Curiosity e Perseverance, mas quatro outras sondas em órbita marciana mantêm a rede operacional.
- A sonda permanecerá em órbita elíptica entre 50 a 100 anos antes de ser atraída pela gravidade de Marte — presente no planeta que estudou, mesmo depois do silêncio.
Na terça-feira, a NASA anunciou o encerramento da missão Maven, a sonda que passou mais de onze anos a estudar a atmosfera de Marte. O último sinal chegou a 6 de dezembro, enquanto a nave passava por detrás do planeta. Algo correu mal durante essa passagem: a sonda começou a rodar de forma anómala, o que terá esgotado as baterias e cortado o sistema de comunicações. Após meses de investigação, a agência concluiu que a recuperação era impossível. Uma comissão no Centro Goddard continua a apurar a causa original da falha.
Lançada em 2013 e concebida para uma missão de apenas um ano, a Maven tornou-se uma das presenças mais duradouras da NASA em Marte. O seu objetivo era compreender como o planeta perdeu a sua atmosfera ao longo de três mil milhões de anos — uma história de erosão lenta causada, em grande parte, por tempestades solares que aceleram a fuga de partículas para o espaço. A sonda observou auroras marcianas, incluindo uma em luz verde visível, captada em colaboração com o rover Perseverance, e chegou a registar a passagem de um cometa interestelar pelo sistema. Os dados recolhidos ofereceram à ciência o retrato mais completo de escape atmosférico alguma vez obtido para qualquer planeta, incluindo a Terra.
Além da investigação científica, a Maven servia de retransmissora de dados dos rovers Curiosity e Perseverance. A sua ausência introduz um pequeno atraso nessas comunicações, mas a rede marciana da NASA permanece robusta: quatro outras sondas continuam em operação e as rotinas foram ajustadas para compensar a perda.
A sonda morta não desaparecerá tão cedo. Permanecerá em órbita elíptica — oscilando entre cerca de 180 e 4.000 quilómetros da superfície marciana — durante 50 a 100 anos, até que a gravidade a atraia finalmente para o planeta que estudou. A missão que deveria durar um ano durou onze, e mesmo em silêncio, a Maven continuará a sua vigília por décadas.
On Tuesday, NASA announced the end of Maven, the spacecraft that spent more than eleven years circling Mars to study the planet's atmosphere. The agency had lost contact with the probe six months earlier, on December 6, and after investigation determined the spacecraft could not be recovered.
Maven—an acronym for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution—launched in 2013 and reached Mars orbit in 2014. It was meant to stay for a single year. Instead, it kept working, kept transmitting, kept watching. The mission became one of NASA's most durable scientific efforts, a quiet observer of a world that was once far more hospitable than it is today.
The last signal arrived while Maven was passing behind Mars from Earth's perspective. Something went wrong during that passage. The spacecraft began spinning at 2.7 rotations per minute—unusual for a probe designed to remain stable. Engineers believe the spinning drained the batteries, starving the communication system of power. A review board at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland is still investigating what caused the initial signal loss. Mike Moreau, the project manager, said conclusions should arrive within months.
For over three billion years, Mars has been dying. Once it had a thicker atmosphere, liquid water on its surface, conditions that might have supported microbial life. Maven's core mission was to understand how the planet lost its air to space. The spacecraft discovered that solar storms—violent eruptions from the Sun—accelerate this atmospheric erosion dramatically. It watched as energetic particles from those storms collided with the upper atmosphere and created auroras, including one observed in visible green light for the first time, a collaboration with the Perseverance rover that turned the Martian sky into something almost beautiful. Maven even caught sight of an interstellar comet passing through the system. By the time contact was lost, the mission had given scientists a clearer picture of atmospheric escape on Mars than exists for any other world, including Earth.
Maven relayed scientific data from other rovers—Curiosity and Perseverance—back to Earth. Tiffany Morgan, director of Mars exploration at NASA's Planetary Science Division, acknowledged there is now a small delay in receiving that information. But the network is resilient. Four other spacecraft still operate in Mars orbit. Operations have been adjusted, but the loss of Maven does not cripple the effort.
The dead probe will remain in its highly elliptical orbit for fifty to one hundred years, swinging between roughly 180 kilometers and 4,000 kilometers from the Martian surface, before gravity finally pulls it down. It poses no threat to the spacecraft still working, still sending back the data that Maven once carried. The mission that was supposed to last one year became a mission that lasted eleven, and even in silence, it will keep its vigil for decades more.
Notable Quotes
Now we have a better understanding of atmospheric escape on Mars than on any other planet, including Earth— Tiffany Morgan, NASA Planetary Science Division
The spacecraft emerged from behind Mars spinning at 2.7 rotations per minute, which likely drained the batteries and caused the communication system to lose power— Mike Moreau, Maven project manager
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that Maven is gone if other spacecraft are still there?
Maven was the relay station. It caught signals from rovers on the ground and sent them to Earth. Without it, there's a bottleneck. The other spacecraft can compensate, but it's like losing one of your main roads—traffic still moves, but it's slower and less flexible.
So this is about infrastructure, not science?
Both. The science Maven collected—about how Mars lost its atmosphere—that's done. Eleven years of work, complete. But yes, its practical role as a relay was crucial. That's why NASA had to adjust operations.
The spinning—that seems like a small thing to kill a spacecraft.
It is and it isn't. The spinning itself probably wasn't the killer. Something else caused the signal loss first. The spinning was the consequence—the spacecraft tumbling, batteries draining. By the time it emerged from behind Mars, it was already gone.
What does it tell us that Mars had a thicker atmosphere billions of years ago?
It tells us planets can change fundamentally. Mars was potentially habitable. Solar wind stripped it bare. Understanding that process helps us think about planetary evolution everywhere—and it makes you wonder what Earth's atmosphere will look like in a few billion years.
Will they ever retrieve Maven?
No. It's in orbit, but it's silent and spinning. There's no way to reach it, no way to fix it. It will stay up there for a century or so, then fall. That's the end.