On Tuesday, the official account for the ‘Insight’ Mars probe posted a tweet that read: ‘My energy is low, and this may be the last photo I send, but don’t worry.. My time here was calm and helpful.”
The probe is an unmanned spacecraft launched into space to collect scientific information about planets and other celestial bodies, as these vehicles send data to Earth for scientists to analyze and study.
The probe appeared covered in dust and sand in its latest image, before the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officially announced the retirement of “Insight” after 4 years on the surface of the Red Planet.
Therefore, NASA is left with one more mission to Mars, namely the “Perseverance” probe, which launched in July 2020 and arrived on Mars in February 2021.
And that rover continues to prepare a collection of Martian mineral samples for future analysis on Earth.
NASA launched its first vehicles to explore Mars in 1997, when the previous experiments finally ended and the “Perseverance” probe and the “Curiosity” probe remained.
Although NASA has launched unmanned vehicles into space since the 1950s AD, the first vehicle launched with the goal of exploring Mars dates back to 1997.
Over the past twenty-five years, he has conducted many spacecraft Education Curated to greatly enhance our understanding of the Red Planet.
NASA explains that there are many strategic, practical and scientific reasons that drive humans to explore Mars, among which we know that the Red Planet is the most accessible place in the solar system.
Furthermore, the exploration of Mars offers an opportunity to answer questions about the origin and evolution of life and could one day be a destination for the human race.
“Wanderer”
In 1997, NASA took its first step to explore the Red Planet with a mission called “Pathfinder” through the “Sojourner” spacecraft, which spent nearly 4 months exploring Mars.
In the Pathfinder mission, it is the first time in interplanetary programs that Mars data and images are publicly accessible through Internet technology.
And “Sojourner” has transferred 550 images from Mars to scientists, with the aim of analyzing them to obtain new information on the history of the Red Planet and on the suitability of humans to live on it.
“Spirit” and “Opportunity”
After NASA landed its first rover, Sojourner, on Mars in 1997, NASA sent its more advanced rovers Spirit and Opportunity on similar missions in July 2003. Upon their arrival in January 2004, both Spirit and Opportunity had exceeded the expected operational life of 90 days.
Spirit operated for 2,208 sols – 2,249 Earth days – before finally stopping on March 22, 2010.
It took Opportunity 5,110 sols – 5,250 Earth days – more than 14 years – to travel the distance before a planetary dust storm ended its mission on June 10, 2018.
These two missions revealed the geology of vast plains on Mars and, among other discoveries, provided evidence of ancient water formations.
“Phoenix”
On May 25, 2008, the Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars, making it the first spacecraft to land in that region of the Red Planet.
The Phoenix spacecraft’s goals included searching for evidence of water ice and evidence of the habitability of Mars in the past.
It found direct evidence of water ice, confirming orbital observations by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched in 2001, but leaving open the question of whether Mars will ever be habitable for some human life.
The Phoenix vehicle operated until November 2 of the same year, 67 Martian days after the end of its expected life, as it fell victim to the approaching Martian winter with very cold temperatures and little sunlight.
Curiosity
On November 26, 2011, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory launched a new spacecraft called Curiosity, which plunged into the 96-mile (154-kilometer) wide Gale Crater during August 2012 on a mission to determine whether the area could support microbial life.
The spacecraft team quickly determined that Gale Earth had been a habitable environment for billions of years, hosting a system of lakes and streams that could potentially last for millions of years at a time.
The trivia continues to build on previous discoveries and has confirmed that liquid water once flowed on Mars during a wetter period in its history.
And this vehicle has taken thousands of photos not only of the landscape on Mars, but also of celestial bodies in an exploratory mission that is still ongoing.
According to a scientific paper published by the Life Science website, researchers have reported in a new study that some of the crushed rock samples collected by Curiosity over the years contain organic materials rich in a type of carbon that here on Earth is associated with life, according to the “Curiosity” website.space. com“.
“intuition”
Subsequently, NASA launched the recently retired “Insight” probe in 2018, as it has monitored a total of more than 1,300 “Martian earthquakes”, including those resulting from the impacts of smaller meteorites, and scientists from around the world will benefit for many years from the data it has collected. .
During Christmas Eve 2021, the Insight spacecraft was able to detect a meteorite hitting the surface of Mars, causing four-degree tremors.
These aftershocks were detected by the seismometer of the “Insight” probe, which landed on Mars about four years ago, about 3,500 km from the impact site.
Perseverance
In the latest NASA mission to search for traces of ancient life on Mars, the American probe “Perseverance” left for the Red Planet in the summer of 2020.
This mission is supported by more than 350 scientists from different scientific fields and is likely to continue for at least two years.
The main “Perseverance” mission focuses on finding traces of previous life on Mars, but scientists believe they have serious evidence that
This planet was warmer three billion years ago and has many rivers and lakes flowing through it, components that, on Earth at least, have led to the presence of microbes. But the red planet then went cold and dry for a reason planetary scientists still don’t know.
Perseverance is the largest and most complex spacecraft ever sent to Mars. It was produced in the famous “Jet Propulsion” laboratory in California, weighs almost a ton and is equipped with a robotic arm that exceeds two meters in length, as well as 19 cameras.
