NASA's InSight still hunting marsquakes as power levels diminish

The Mars lander mission is expected to end around the end of the year because of the bright solar panels and dark skies.

NASA's InSight Mars lander is losing power and is expected to end science operations later this summer. The lander is expected to become inoperative by December, after it has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes and found quake-prone areas.

Scientists have been able to measure the depth and composition of Mars thanks to the information gathered from those earthquakes. Weather data and remnants of the ancient Mars magnetic field have been recorded by InSight.

The director of NASA's Planetary Science Division said that InSight has transformed our understanding of the interiors of rocky planets and set the stage for future missions.

InSight landed on Mars. It was equipped with a pair of solar panels that each measure about 7 feet (2.2 meters) wide and was designed to accomplish the mission's primary science goals in its first Mars year. The solar panels have been producing less power as they accumulate dust, and the spacecraft is now into an extended mission.

The team will put the robotic arm in a resting position for the last time later this month because of the reduced power. The arm was originally intended to deploy the seismometer and the heat probe, but it was used to help bury the heat probe after it was stuck in the Martian soil. The seismometer was able to operate more often because of this.

The solar panels produced 5,000 watt-hours per day, enough to power an electric oven for an hour and 40 minutes. 500 watt-hours per sol is enough to power the same electric oven for 10 minutes.

There are seasonal changes in Elysium Planitia. There will be more dust in the air over the next few months. The mission would need a more powerful dust-cleaning event, such as a dust devil, to reverse the current trend.

Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said that they have been hoping for a dust cleaning of the rovers.

The landers would gain about 1,000 watt-hours per sol if 25% of the panels were swept clean. After the end of May, InSight's non-seismic instruments will rarely be turned on.

The seismometer is expected to operate at certain times of the day, such as at night, when winds are low and marsquakes are less likely.

At that point, the lander will have enough power to operate, take occasional pictures and communicate with Earth. The team believes that power will be low around December, which will cause InSight to stop responding.

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