NASA Insight Mission: ‘My power’s really low’: Nasa’s InSight rover prepares to sign off after 4

NEW DELHI: After over four years of exploring Mars, Nasa’s InSight rover is preparing to sign off.
On Tuesday, the robotic lander tweeted that its power was “really low”, and attached what might be the “last image” it could send back to Earth. The rover was launched on May 5, 2018, and landed on the Red Planet after 5 months.

“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 – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me,” tweeted InSight.
Its scientific mission was originally planned to last two years but was subsequently extended for two more to this December.

On November 1, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had said it was preparing to bid farewell to the spacecraft. “The day is approaching when InSight lander will fall silent, ending its history-making mission to reveal secrets of the Red Planet’s interior,” Nasa said on its website.
On November 26, the rover tweeted, “I’ve been lucky enough to live on two planets. Four years ago, I arrived safely at the second one, to the delight of my family back on the first. Thanks to my team for sending me on this journey of discovery. Hope I’ve done you proud”.

NASA will officially end the mission when the lander misses two communication attempts in a row with a spacecraft orbiting the planet.
Seismic activity on Red Planet
Insight — short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport — is the first outer space robotic explorer to probe the “inner space” of Mars. One of its research responsibilities was studying seismic activity on the Red Planet.
It has gathered data on more than 1,300 quakes since landing on the Red Planet. In October 2022, InSight detected a ‘Marsquake’ of magnitude 4 after a meteorite 16-39 feet across hit the planet. Through the rover’s data, researchers recently discovered that Mars’ mantle has more iron than the Earth’s.

According to Nasa, studying the Red Planet’s interior structure could help answer how rocky planets formed in the inner solar system. “It is the perfect laboratory from which to study the formation and evolution of rocky planets,” it said.
In the announcement, Nasa had noted that Insight’s power generation “continues to decline” because of the thickening of windblown dust on its solar panels.
(With inputs from agencies)