December 23, 2024

Death by Dust: Game Over for NASA’s InSight Mars Lander?

This was followed by a Tweet from the NASA JPL Twitter deal with that reported that on December 18, the InSight Mars Lander “did not react to communications from Earth.”

NASA InSight Mars Landers last image? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
We have actually understood for a while that completion was near for NASAs Mars InSight lander, as the spacecrafts power supply continued to dwindle from windblown dust collecting on its photovoltaic panels. Now, it seems that day has come. The NASA InSight Twitter accounts newest message exposed what may be the last image sent out from the spacecraft, as Insight exposed its “powers actually low.”

Update on @NASAInSight: On Dec. 18, the Mars lander did not respond to interactions from Earth. The group will try once again to contact InSight.
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 20, 2022

My powers actually low, so this may be the last image I can send. If I can keep talking to my objective team, I will– however Ill be signing off here quickly.
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) December 19, 2022

NASAs Mars Interior Exploration utilizing Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission launched on May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. After a 300-million-mile journey to Mars, InSIght touched down on the Red Planet near the equator on the western side of a flat, smooth area of lava called Elysium Planitia on November 26.
The missions science objectives were to uncover how a rocky body types and progresses to become a planet by investigating the interior structure and structure of Mars and to figure out the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite effects. InSIght attained its primary science objectives in its first Martian year (~ 2 Earth years), and NASA extended its mission to concentrate on producing a long-duration, premium seismic dataset.
During its time on Mars, InSights seismometer felt multiple meteor impacts, found more than 1,300 marsquakes, and shed brand-new light on the Red Planets interior:

We have actually known for a while that the end was near for NASAs Mars InSight lander, as the spacecrafts power supply continued to dwindle from windblown dust building up on its solar panels. The NASA InSight Twitter accounts newest message exposed what might be the last image sent out from the spacecraft, as Insight exposed its “powers truly low.”

Update on @NASAInSight: On Dec. 18, the Mars lander did not respond to interactions from Earth. The group will try once again to get in touch with InSight.