In a Dec. 19 blog post, NASA announced that InSight had not responded to communications from Earth. Scientists speculate that the spacecraft may have reached the end of its useful life. For months, the lander has been low on power as the solar panel is covered in Martian dust.
NASA launched the Mars InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander in May 2018. InSignt landed on Mars on the plains of Elysium Planitia in November 2018.
The InSight mission is very ambitious, which is to understand the interior of Mars. InSight successfully tracked earthquakes. Scientists also this week announced the detection of its largest earthquake on Mars. InSight has detected more than 1,300 earthquakes since its launch in 2018.
But for the past four years, dust has accumulated on the lander’s large spherical solar panel. This limits the amount of energy InSight can generate over time.
InSight completes its two-year primary mission in 2020. NASA has granted an extension to December 2022 if the lander survives that long. The lander now only generates 20 percent of the power it has.
Last month, NASA gave the InSight lander just a few weeks of life on Mars.
