The “Insight” lander has been measuring seismic activity on Mars since 2018. But now the power is running out: on the spacecraft’s Twitter channel, NASA is publishing what may be the last image that “Insight” was able to send. “Thank you for following me,” it says.
After around four years on Mars, NASA’s “Insight” lander has sent its possibly last image to Earth. “I’m almost out of power, that could be the last picture I can send,” said Tuesday night on the lander’s Twitter channel, which NASA operates. “I’ll be unsubscribing from here soon. Thanks for following me.” The image shows the area of Martian soil directly in front of the lander.
NASA had already declared in November that “Insight” would only have energy for a few weeks. The reason for this is the dust from the Red Planet, which is becoming thicker and thicker on the solar modules.
The stationary lander arrived on Mars in November 2018 to measure seismic activity. He achieved his scientific goals after just over two years, so that he has been on an “extended mission” ever since. “We’re finally seeing Mars as a planet with layers, different thicknesses and compositions,” said Bruce Banerdt, NASA’s Insight mission director of research, a few weeks ago. Before the probe’s measurements, it was not finally clear whether Mars is seismically active.
According to NASA, “Insight” has registered more than 1,300 marsquakes since its arrival, giving scientists information about the inner structure of the planet. The main task now is to secure the amount of data and make it accessible to researchers all over the world. The data would provide new discoveries for decades to come, said the project’s deputy research director.