NASA will bid farewell to its Mars InSight vehicle this year

NASA’s Mars InSight rover will soon be out of service due to dust accumulating on its solar panels. The space agency has been reporting that the accumulated dust has been causing a decrease in the vehicle’s power for a while.

Mars InSight is nearing the end of its mission

NASA, in a statement, thinks that the spacecraft may completely lose its function in December this year, while waiting for the spacecraft to end its science operations this summer. Equipped with a pair of solar panels, each about 2.2 meters wide, these panels from InSight could produce about 5,000 watt-hours of energy per day. The dust accumulated on the panels would reduce the energy produced by the panels by 10 times. The space agency says Mars dust limits the amount of activity they can do with InSight.

Mars InSight instrument, which started its mission in 2018, has detected more than 1300 Mars earthquakes so far and presented many useful information about the red planet to scientists.

Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said, “InSight has changed our understanding of the interiors of rocky planets and laid the groundwork for future missions. We can apply what we’ve learned about the internal structure of Mars to Earth, the Moon, Venus, and even other rocky planets in the solar system.” said.

NASA hopes that the dust on the panels will be swept away by the winds so that the Mars InSight vehicle can continue in service for a while. Sweeping 25% of the dust from the panels is expected to be able to double the current energy production.