Since it began collecting data in early 2019, the probe has revolutionized our understanding of the interior of Mars. Its solar panels are now covered in dust, and its power inverting capability is only a matter of time before Mars InSight is turned off forever.
And NASA announced back in May that InSight science operations would likely cease by the end of the year. But the harsh reality is now approaching, and we have to say goodbye to the Mars pioneer.
In its tweet, NASA revealed what is likely to be the last image we’ll see from InSight, as its power is too low for large data transfers.
And unlike other robotic laboratories exploring Mars, such as Curiosity and Perseverance, InSight is not a rover. Rather, once deployed, the rover was positioned in one spot on the surface of Mars, at the boundary between the cratered southern highlands and the smoother, drab northern lowlands. There, the probe, equipped with an array of instruments designed to monitor inner planetary activity, discovered that Mars is not as dead as we had long assumed.
Instead, the interior of the Red Planet is marred by seismic and possibly volcanic activity. This is incredible information for a number of reasons.
First, all this internal activity generates seismic sound waves that bounce back inside Mars, giving seismologists the information they need to create the first-ever detailed map of Mars’ internal structure.
Its instruments are also sensitive enough to detect meteorites hitting Mars, which scientists have tracked down to fresh craters. This information can help scientists better understand Mars’ impact history – a history that can help explain some of the planet’s geological and atmospheric characteristics. And volcanic activity has incredible effects. Mars is too cold and its atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to collect on its surface, which means that life as we know it would not be able to survive there.
But if there is volcanic activity inside Mars, this internal heating could prevent subterranean lakes from freezing, providing an environment in which microbial life could theoretically survive.
So, while InSight has only operated for less than four years, it has shown us that the Martian interior can be very different from the barren, frozen ball of dust that seems to hang over the surface.
NASA’s Opportunity spacecraft suffered the same fate in 2019, when the thick layer of dust covering its solar panels couldn’t be shaken off.
Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about Curiosity and Perseverance: both rovers are powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium, and they’ll run until their generators run out, no matter how much Martian dust covers their bodies.
And InSight hasn’t been turned off yet. And NASA will continue to maintain contact for as long as possible. But that day is fast approaching, especially when the probe joins the retired spacecraft, in this desolate space probe graveyard around Mars.