NASA’s InSight Mars landing took what is likely to be his last or last selfie on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th (single) March day of the mission. The spacecraft is expected to complete scientific operations in late summer, as its power levels are declining due to dusty solar panels.
InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, landed on Mars in November 2018 to study the interior of Mars and take the vital signs of the planet, its dust and temperature.
Now on an extended mission until December 2022, InSight solar panels have been producing less energy as they continue to accumulate dust. Over the next few months, there will be more dust in the air, which will reduce sunlight and ultimately scare energy, so the mission is unlikely to continue operating during its extended mission. current.
InSight took its first selfie on Mars in December 2018 and the second in April 2019, when it was covered in much less dust than today.
According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the agency’s Scientific Mission Direction mission, the robotic arm of the lander must move several times to capture a complete selfie. Because its dusty solar panels produce less energy, the mission team will soon put its arm in its rest position (called a “retirement pose”) for the last time in May 2022.
A dusty self-portrait. @ NASAInSight took what is likely to be his last selfie on April 24th. In the GIF, you can see the first selfie of the spaceship in December 2018 and the last one where it is covered in Martian dust. pic.twitter.com/CcN2Qzg90d
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 24, 2022
To date, NASA’s InSight mission has recorded invaluable weather data, detected more than 1,300 earthquakes, and studied remnants of Mars’ ancient magnetic field.