Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab are getting ready to say goodbye to the agency's InSight Mars lander.
The heartbreaking end to a mission that has given us unprecedented and fascinating glimpse of the Red Planet was marked by the minivan-sized lander taking what is likely to be its final selfies.
The selfie that was taken on April 24 shows InSight covered in Martian dust, which makes it difficult to charge its batteries.
The poor lander has accumulated a lot of dust over the years, and a selfies taken shortly after landing shows just how much.
The dust from the solar panels is difficult to shake. Last year, the team at JPL got creative and had the lander scoop up and slowly drop Martian sand upwind of its solar array in hopes of allowing wind to clear the panels.
The team suspected that the days on Mars were numbered due to the blocked solar panels.
The team at JPL is getting ready to place the robotic arm into its final resting place later this month.
May it rest in peace.
NASA Mars Landers will likely be its final selfies.
NASA is killing its Mars Lander.
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