The InSight Mars exploration vehicle is at risk of completing its mission. He lacks energy

Right now on the surface of Mars there isInSight apparatus. It was delivered to the planet in November 2018 and is located in the Elysian Plain. This is far from the best place to install an apparatus that generates energy using solar panels. The fact is that Martian dust quickly settles on the panels, which is why they cannot fully generate electricity. Usually the dust is blown away by the wind, but the plain is in a calm place. In February, the InSight device was receiving only 27% of all possible energy, so the aerospace agency NASA decided to put it into hibernation mode. Only the heating elements will remain on, because it is winter now on Mars and the cold can break all the electronics. The InSight mission is at great risk of ending and it could be a big disaster for NASA. Let's briefly recall what this device does and talk in more detail about what is happening with it at the moment.

The InSight has almost run out of power. What's next?

What does InSight do?

Research Station InSight wasdesigned to study the internal structure of Mars. Initially, the mission was supposed to last 728 days, but due to the current circumstances, it may end ahead of time. The main instrument of the apparatus is the SEIS seismometer, which is needed to track the seismic activity of Mars. As it turned out, something like earthquakes also occur on a distant planet, but the tremors are very weak. In one of the materials, my colleague Lyubov Sokovikova has already said that in 235 days the device was able to record 174 cases of seismic activity. You can read more about Marsquakes at this link, but then - the problems with the InSight apparatus are much more important.

Seismometer design SEIS

It just so happened that the InSight device from the verythe beginning turned out to be problematic. He has the Mole instrument, which was supposed to plunge into the ground to a depth of 5 meters and find out how heat and vibrations pass through the Martian soil. The device managed to drill only a 30-centimeter hole - then it got stuck. We watched for a very long time how NASA specialists tried in various ways to save the instrument from the trap, but nothing came of it. In 2021, the rig tried 500 strikes, but to no avail. Mission leaders decided not to torture the instrument anymore and officially shut down the tool.

See also: What was the year 2019 for the InSight spacecraft on the Red Planet?

The InSight mission can be completed

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the InSight devicelocated on the plain of Elysium. In two years of operation, its solar panels were covered with dust, so they began to produce poor energy. It is worth noting that InSight is not a rover... He sank to the surface of Mars and is fixed inone single place. Since the device has very little energy, and on Mars it is winter now and the temperature can drop to -90 degrees Celsius, the mission leaders decided to put it into sleep mode. Every day, the agency turns off various instruments of the apparatus so that they do not waste energy. Only the heat supply is on, which is necessary to keep the InSight from breaking due to cold.

Plain of Elysium on Mars

According to InSight Principal Investigator BruceBanerdt (Bruce Banerdt), if all goes well and the cold does not harm the electronics, in the future InSight may work again. This will happen immediately after the warm days, around July. NASA is optimistic, but officials say Mars is highly unpredictable. At the moment, we can only hope that the device will survive the winter and be able to work at least until the end of 2022.

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But if the apparatus still uses up all its energyand will not be able to fill it, it will repeat the fate of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. According to Bruce Banerdt, these missions were completed ahead of schedule for the same reason - they ran out of energy and could not turn on again. The last time scientists managed to establish contact with Opportunity on June 10, 2018. After that, a powerful dust storm began on Mars and it was not possible to contact the device anymore. It is believed that he wasted energy precisely because dust settled on his solar panels. In one of the materials you answered that there is still a chance for a connection between the Earth and Opportunity. Let's now speculate about whether the InSight device will be able to continue its mission? Write in the comments.