Due to the thick layer of dust that covers the Martian probe’s solar panel, it was predicted for months that it would be completely empty: on Sunday it stopped responding to messages from Earth.
“InSight is believed to have reached the end of its life… It is not known what caused this,” NASA told CBS on Monday. item according to
They are unlikely to save you
The space agency warned last month that InSight could end its mission in the coming weeks, and have now added that they aren’t planning a heroic mission to try to restore its power.
“A mission-saving event – say, the generation of a strong gust of wind that cleans the panels – is not excluded, but we consider it unlikely”
– they said. Regardless, they constantly try to contact the tool to see if it responds.
Landing on Mars in 2018, InSight was the first instrument to record a Martian earthquake. Since then, it has recorded more than 1,300 such events with its French-made seismometer, many of which were caused by meteor impacts. The last quake in 2022 lasted for six hours.
They had known for some time that he was silent
Last week, NASA experts also talked about InSight not only in images, but also in sound
captured a Martian dust devil.
The swirling column of dust passed directly above the lander in 2021 when its microphone was turned on.
Its other accessories were not very successful: its German-made excavation structure, which was supposed to allow temperature measurement, only reached a depth of half a meter in the Martian soil, while the goal was to descend to a depth of five meters .
My power is very low so this may be the last picture I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can continue to talk to my team about the mission, I will, but I will be stepping down soon. Thanks for staying with me. pic.twitter.com/wkYKww15kQ
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) December 19, 2022
InSight said goodbye
The space agency just released the latest InSight selfie on Monday.
“I am very low on energy, so this may be the last photo I can send. Don’t worry about me though – my time here has been both productive and calm. If I can still communicate with the mission team, I will – but I will soon log out. Thank you for staying with me,” they wrote under the photo on behalf of the researchers.
InSight has helped NASA learn more about the temperature and composition of Mars’ mantle.
Two of the space agency’s vehicles are currently working on the red planet: Curiosity has been on Mars for ten years and Ingenuity for four years. Perseverance is currently storing rock and dust samples so that scientists can access them even in the event of a malfunction. Its companion, the Ingenuity helicopter, has already completed 37 flights to Mars, most recently logging a flight time of one hour.
Opening image: NASA Twitter
