Yesterday, Tuesday, the US space agency, NASA, announced that it had retired the Integrated Imaging Spectrometer for Mars Reconnaissance at the beginning of this month.
The instrument, which is one of NASA’s oldest instruments studying Mars, was aboard the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 17 years ago, and has detected minerals such as clay, hematite and sulfates across the surface of the Red Planet.
The Mars Reconnaissance Integrated Imaging Spectrometer has produced high-resolution maps of minerals that have been crucial in helping scientists understand how lakes, rivers and groundwater shaped the planet billions of years ago, according to NASA.
NASA also relied on spectrometer maps to locate the most scientifically interesting landing sites for its spacecraft, such as Gale Crater, which NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft has explored since 2012, and Grazier Crater.
The spectrometer was shut down on April 3 in a move that had been planned since last year, according to NASA.
