At a special meeting of key InSight mission personnel, it was confirmed that the growing amount of dust on two
InSight, equipped with many scientific instruments,discovered more than 1,300 quakes, including what is considered the largest ever recorded on another planet, and also discovered earthquake-prone regions of the Red Planet. In general, the mission was very successful, and in the first two years of operation, the device achieved all the main goals.
“InSight has changed our understanding of the interiorrocky planets and laid the foundation for future missions,” said Laurie Gleizes, director of NASA’s Division of Planetary Sciences. “We can apply our knowledge of the internal structure of Mars to the Earth, the Moon, Venus, and even rocky planets in other solar systems.”
InSight gradually loses power due toaccumulation of dust on solar panels, which gradually blocks sunlight. When it arrived on Mars in 2018, the panels were producing about 5,000 Wh per Martian day (slightly more than an Earth day), but today they produce about 500 Wh per Martian day. By comparison, NASA says these energy levels could power an electric oven for 100 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively.
The only way to save InSight is strongwinds that can clear dust from solar panels. “We were hoping for a cleanup [of dust], as happened several times with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers,” said mission member Bruce Banerdt. "It's still possible, but the chances are quite low, so we've focused on making the most of the scientific data we can still gather."
NASA notes that if a quarter of the panelsInSight will be cleared of dust, then in one Martian day the station will receive about 1000 W / h, which is enough for further scientific work. Now all the energy of the apparatus is directed primarily to the seismometer, which works at night, when the winds are weak, so the chances of detecting marsquakes are higher.
The team predicts that the seismometer will stopwork in the next few months, and InSight will only have enough energy to take rare pictures and maintain contact with the Earth, and in December it will finally fall silent.
After the loss of InSight, NASA will have three scientific missions on the surface of Mars: the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, as well as the Ingenuity helicopter.
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