NASA’s InSight lander may be relaxing into retirement on Mars, but the robot continues to provide the space agency with valuable information.
The lander on November 26, 2018 began its mission to Mars: to collect data on the structure of the planet, its seismic activity and the frequency of meteorites. The robot then ran out of power in December 2022 sending a final image. He was pronounced “dead” in news reports, including The New York Times and The Independent.
Recently, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter checked on its retired colleague and sent an image of the InSight lander to the surface of the planet. Although, the lander cannot send images, its mere existence on the red planet continues to provide insights (no pun intended).
“By studying the InSight landing site over time, scientists can see how quickly dust accumulates, which helps estimate the age of other surface disturbances,” NASA said in a May 6 post on its NASA Mars Account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
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What Happened to NASA’s Insight Plane?
After launching in May 2018, InSight short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport traveled about 300 million miles over 6 months to Mars from Earth.
The lander had a robotic arm (with a built-in camera) which it used to deploy a heat probe and seismometer to collect data.
According to California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it captured meteor impacts and more than 1,300 gear earthquakes during its mission.
As his mission progressed, dust collected on his solar panels. However, the robot outlived its original mission by two Earth years, Space.com reported.
Just before the robot ran out of power, NASA posted a farewell note from InSight on social media: “My powers are very low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though : my time here has been productive and peaceful if I can continue to talk to my mission team, but I will sign off here soon.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is also a workhorse, having lasted more than twice its expected lifetime since launch in 2005 and is expected to last for several more years.
As its name suggests, it orbits Mars and takes high-resolution images including those of a Martian canyon that would reach from New York City to San Francisco if it were stationed in the United States.
Images taken by the InSight rover’s Orbiter on Mars help ensure the continued contributions of its colleagues.
“InSight has more than lived up to its name,” JPL Director Laurie Leshin said at the time of her retirement. “Yes, it is sad to say goodbye, but the legacy of InSights will live on, informing and inspiring.
And that seems to be true even today.
Contributed by: Natalie Neysa Alund and Eric Lagatta.
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Image Source : www.usatoday.com