NASA’s InSight Mars landing uses a seismometer to study the inner layers of Mars. Earthquake seismic signals change as they traverse different types of materials; seismologists can “read” the scribbles of a seismogram to study the properties of the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
The InSight mission team has chosen to run its seismometer longer than previously planned, although as a result, the scare will run out of power sooner.
As the power available for NASA’s InSight Mars spacecraft decreases day by day, the spacecraft team has revised the mission’s timeline in order to maximize the science they can carry out. The scare was projected to automatically shut down the seismometer, InSight’s latest scientific operating instrument, in late June to save energy and survive the energy that its dust-laden solar panels can generate until around December. .
NASA’s InSight Mars spacecraft took this last selfie on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sun, of the mission. The landing is covered in much more dust than in his first selfie, taken in December 2018, shortly after the landing, or in his second selfie, consisting of images taken in March and April 2019. Credit : NASA / JPL-Caltech
Instead, the team now plans to schedule the landing so that the seismometer can run longer, perhaps until late August or early September. Doing so will sooner drain the batteries from the lander and cause the spacecraft to run out of power at that time as well, but could allow the seismometer to detect additional marshes.
“InSight has not yet finished teaching us about Mars,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Division of Planetary Science in Washington. “We will get to the last part of science as soon as we can before the frightening operations end.”
The InSight team will be available to answer your questions directly on June 28 at 3:00 pm EDT (noon PDT) during a live event on YouTube. Questions can be asked with the hashtag #AskNASA.
InSight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is on an extended mission after achieving its scientific goals. The groundbreaker has detected more than 1,300 earthquakes since it landed on Mars in 2018, providing information that has allowed scientists to measure the depth and composition of Mars’ crust, mantle, and core. With its other instruments, InSight has recorded invaluable weather data, investigated the ground beneath the landing, and studied remnants of Mars’ ancient magnetic field.
This is the first complete selfie of NASA InSight on Mars. Shows solar panels and scare cover. At the top of the deck are its scientific instruments, weather sensors and UHF antenna. The selfie was taken on December 6, 2018 (Sun 10). Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
All instruments except the seismometer have already been turned off. Like other spacecraft on Mars, InSight has an error protection system that automatically activates “safe mode” in threatening situations and shuts down all but the most essential functions, allowing engineers to assess the situation. Low power and temperatures moving outside the default limits can activate safe mode.
To keep the seismometer running for as long as possible, the mission team is shutting down the InSight bug protection system. While this will allow the instrument to run longer, it leaves the scare unprotected from sudden and unexpected events to which ground controllers would not have time to respond.
This is the second complete selfie of NASA InSight on Mars. Since his first selfie was taken, the terrifier has removed the heat probe and seismometer from its deck, placing them on the Martian surface; a thin layer of dust now also covers the spacecraft. This selfie is a mosaic of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 – the 106th and 133rd March, or alone, of the mission – by InSight’s instrument deployment camera, located in its robotic arm. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
“The goal is to get scientific data to the point where InSight can’t work at all, instead of conserving energy and operating the scare without any scientific benefit,” said Chuck Scott, InSight’s project manager. at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Regular updates on the power of InSight and comments from mission team members will be posted on blogs.nasa.gov/insight.
The InSight team will also be available to answer your questions directly on June 28 at 3:00 pm EDT (noon PDT) during a live event on YouTube. Questions can be asked with the hashtag #AskNASA.
Learn more about the mission
JPL manages InSight for NASA’s Scientific Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Denver’s Lockheed Martin Space built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise and landing stage, and supports the spacecraft’s operations for the mission.
Several European partners, such as the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) in France and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), support the InSight mission. CNES provided the instrument Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) to NASA, with the principal investigator of the IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris). Significant contributions for SEIS came from the IPGP; the Max Planck Solar System Research Institute (MPS) in Germany; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland; Imperial College London and Oxford University in the United Kingdom; and JPL. DLR provided the instrument Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), with significant contributions from the Center for Space Research (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. The Center for Astrobiology of Spain (CAB) supplied the temperature and wind sensors.