by The environment faced by space missions is quite harsh, and precision instruments are prone to failure. Recently, NASA’s InSight Mars Exploration Machine was forced to retire due to insufficient power.
InSight is an unmanned probe that successfully landed on Mars in 2018. The mission at that time was to explore the geological evolution of the Martian surface through seismometers and heat flow detectors. NASA recently announced that because InSight’s solar panels were severely covered by dust on Mars and had run out of power, the last communication was completed on December 15, 2022, and it would no longer be able to continue to operate and needed to be decommissioned.
The initial target operating time is estimated to be 709 Martian days (about 728 Earth days), and it has been operating for 1,440 Martian days (4 years and 18 days of the Earth) as of the last communication, which can be said to be more than doubled. , Scientists have also successfully obtained a lot of useful new data, and have a deeper understanding of the study of terrestrial planets in the solar system.
“InSight has exceeded expectations,” said Laurie Leshin, director of JPL, who is managing the mission. “As a scientist who studies Mars for a career, it’s really exciting to see what the lander has accomplished, thanks to teams around the globe. Their help made this mission a success. It is often sad to say goodbye, but the legacy of InSight will live on, delivering useful data and inspiration.”
source:NASA
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