{"id":25060,"date":"2022-12-21T17:15:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/21\/nasas-insight-lander-sends-emotional-farewell-from-mars\/"},"modified":"2022-12-21T17:15:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T17:15:49","slug":"nasas-insight-lander-sends-emotional-farewell-from-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/21\/nasas-insight-lander-sends-emotional-farewell-from-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s InSight lander sends emotional farewell from Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a nutshell:<\/strong> NASA’s InSight lander has sent what could very well be its final photo of Mars back to Earth. Earlier this year, NASA noted that InSight’s dual solar panels \u2013 each measuring about seven feet wide \u2013 have been slowly accumulating dust ever since touching down on the Red Planet in late 2018. <\/p>\n

The team even used the lander’s robotic arm to help remove dust from the solar panels and extend the mission but with seasonal changes putting more dust in the air and blocking sunlight, the future looked grim.<\/p>\n

NASA was hoping for a dust-cleaning event<\/a> such as a passing whirlwind but unfortunately, it never materialized.<\/p>\n

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My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will \u2013 but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me. pic.twitter.com\/wkYKww15kQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) December 19, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On December 19, NASA said<\/a> the lander did not respond to communications from Earth a day earlier and it is assumed that InSight may have reached its end of operations. The space agency said it will continue to try and contact Insight.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear if a future cleaning event could remove enough dust from the panels to reactivate the lander, or if it’s dead for good once it shuts down the first time. NASA’s wording doesn’t seem to suggest that being a possibility but again, I’m not 100 percent certain.<\/p>\n

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, was designed to detect seismic activity on Mars. As of this past May, InSight had detected and cataloged more than 1,300 marsquakes including a magnitude 5 quake<\/a> on May 4, 2022, the largest detected since the mission started.<\/p>\n