InSight Lander Dies on Mars
Another one bites the dust!
NASA announces that the end has come for the InSight mission.
A Mars lander, that has for more than 4 years listened for ground shaking that illuminates the structure of the planet's interior, has finished it's mission. The lander has communicated with Earth on December 15. Afterwards, in the two follow - up attempts, NASA could not reach it, which lead the agency to conclude that its batteries had run out of energy. This would usually not be a fatal issue, but the dust - covered solar panels could no longer deliver power.
InSight was originally designed to operate for two years, but was operated with two mission extensions, and was eventually expected to have its power cut off by the end of the year as Martian dust accumulated on the main body’s solar panels.
Bruce Banerdt, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement: “We’ve thought of InSight as our friend and colleague on Mars for the past 4 years, so it’s hard to say goodbye. But it has earned its richly deserved retirement.”
Prolonging of the original mission duration
Even though InSight was originally designed to operate for two years, there were two mission extensions, and was eventually expected to have its power cut off by the end of the year as Martian dust accumulated on the main body’s solar panels. The seismometer installed by Insight has captured more than 1,300 "marsquakes" over the past 4 years, and also captured the largest volcanic eruption ever with a magnitude of 5.
This is the second time NASA has lost a probe sent to Mars to dust, following Cyfle.
Cyfle, which landed on Mars in January 2004, went into hibernation to save power when a dust storm engulfed the entire planet at the end of May 2018, but lost contact without waking up again.