InSight is counting down to say goodbye to its Mars mission. The NASA lander can no longer remain active. And so the Space Agency reported it via dramatic tweet that put the voice in the first person to the module. In fact, this message may be the last one we receive from the device.
It’s running out of power, as confirmed by InSight measurements. Something that comes as no surprise to NASA either. Storms on Mars left a thick layer of Martian dust on the solar panels of an instrument designed to measure earthquakes on the Red Planet.
In fact, as early as April of this year, the mission statement indicated that it would not last many weeks in operation. But InSight managed to hold out almost until the end of the year. To achieve this, the team in charge of the project kept the mission to a minimum; turned off all sensors, except for the seismograph. After almost two years and not without problems – the loss of one of the most important measuring instruments – she achieved her goals.
“My strength is very low, so this might be the last picture I can send. But don’t worry about me – my time here has been productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will.” but I’ll close here soon. Thank you for sticking with me,” the tweet read.
This is one of the saddest messages released by NASA and a team of nearly 25 people who have been working side by side from Earth since 2018 to operate InSight. Two years longer than expected – although no one will exceed Hubble’s expectations – the team was able to study the surface and interior of Mars with great accuracy. In fact, this instrument has collected data on the strongest earthquake ever recorded outside the Earth. One of the last milestones of the mission, as it was in May of the same year.
Along with the disastrous message, another selfie that InSight taught us to take. On this occasion, I confirm the maximum. It is too dusty for any sunbeam to recharge the batteries of the measuring station. Actually, This is a major milestone where I was able to submit an image. On December 18, NASA was unable to contact the mission, so it was not expected to signal again. Actually the image sent is dated before this connection attempt.
Most likely, by now InSight has already fallen asleep and put an end to its history. At least to his data collection, because mission value is still very much alive. The information collection system stores millions of data about the Martian surface, which has yet to be processed and studied in order to understand how the planet, ours and the moon works.
Source: Hiper Textual
