The robot has been photographing and collecting data on Mars since landing on the planet in November 2018, and has been constantly accumulating dust on solar panels throughout that time. As NASA predicted earlier this year, this layer of dust is finally too thick for solar panels to work. has become. The InSight Twitter account officially said goodbye on December 19 with a final image from the surface of Mars.
“My strength is really low, so this may be the last picture I can send you,” he tweeted. “Don’t worry about me though: My time here has been both very productive and very calm. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but it’s time to leave soon. Thanks for staying with me.”
Nothing, metal astronaut, nothing.
InSight landed on Mars for the first time on November 26, 2018. He set up a seismometer on the Martian surface and collected data on Martian earthquakes, which helped NASA scientists compile a clearer picture of the planet’s interior structure. In the past four years, InSight has provided data on more than 500 earthquakes and at least one meteorite impact. From these reports, NASA researchers concluded that the core of Mars is about half the size of Earth and is likely composed of lighter elements than previously thought.
NASA announced in May 2022 that InSight will likely go dark in late summer due to dust accumulating on the lander’s solar panels. InSight had recently celebrated its fourth anniversary on Mars when it cut communication with NASA. In a December 19 blog update, the agency said:
“On December 18, 2022, NASA’s InSight did not respond to communications from Earth. The lander’s power has been dropping for months as expected, and it is assumed that InSight may have reached the end of its operations. The mission last contacted the spacecraft on December 15, 2022. Mission will continue to keep in touch with InSight.”