NASA’s Insight Mars space probe releases its latest selfie

NASA’s (United States space agency) Insight Mars space probe is retiring. He, who began exploring the red planet in November 2018, uploaded his last selfie via the space agency’s social media this week before it was shut down.

It was already announced by the American research agency that the activities were stopped due to the large amount of dust accumulated in the device. The material prevents solar panels from capturing energy to keep the device operational.

Before I lost any more solar energy, I spent some time and took my last selfie before leaving my arm and camera in the permanently stowed position.

More about my final months ahead: https://t.co/eATDXbOlx2 pic.twitter.com/q7gso8NSjv

— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) 24 May 2022

The selfie shows two moments of the operation: at the end of the tenth day of the mission, and now. After nearly four years of operation, the equipment was almost unrecognizable in the dust. Capable of capturing 5,000 watt-hours, solar panels operate at only 500.

In a recent broadcast, NASA laments the lack of luck. According to them, if the wind only swept away some of the dust – 25% of the material – the probe would gain enough 1,000 watt-hours of capacity to continue operating.

In the past, rovers like Spirit and Opportunity depended on devices that could clean up the material that had accumulated on them. But that didn’t happen with InSight. The researchers even tried using the probe’s robotic arms to clean the device, but the operation was inefficient.

Still, the mission was a success. Equipment designed to operate for two years has exceeded its useful life.

He analyzed more than 1,300 earthquakes on the red planet, including the largest earthquake ever detected on this planet, reaching a magnitude of 5. Thanks to him, scientists discovered, for example, that the core of Mars is much smaller than previously known.