NASA's InSight mission, which is expected to end in the near future, saw a recent drop in power generated by its solar panels as a dust storm swirls over Mars. The storm was first observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in September of 2022.
As dust accumulates on its solar array, the power level of the landers has been declining. The thickness of the dusty haze in the Martian atmosphere had increased by 40% by the time the storm had grown large. With less sunlight reaching the lander's panels, its energy dropped from 450 watt-hours per day to just 275 watt-hours per day.
The seismometer has been working for about 24 hours a day on Mars. The drop in solar power isn't enough to fully charge the batteries. The lander would only be able to operate for a short period of time. The seismometer is going to be turned off for the next two weeks.
When it came to power, we were at the bottom of the ladder. "Now we're on the ground floor," said Chuck Scott, the project manager. I would worry about the next storm if we could ride out this one.
Based on predictions of how much dust on its solar panels will reduce its power generation, the team estimated that InSight's mission would end between October of this year and January of next year. The lander is close to the end of its mission, which is conducting "bonus science" by measuring marsquakes, which reveal details about the deep inside of the Red Planet.
The storms on Mars are being studied.
The MRO's Mars Climate Sounder instrument shows that the storm's growth is slowing down. Dust-raising clouds seen in pictures from the Mars Color Imager camera, which was the first instrument to spot the storm, are not growing as quickly as before.
This is the third storm of its kind this year. Mars dust storms occur at all times of the year, but more of them occur in the fall and winter.
Dust storms on Mars are not as violent or dramatic as people think. The air on Mars is so thin that it doesn't have the strength of storms on Earth. The storms are messy and can take weeks to clear.
Dust storms can grow into planet-encircling dust events on rare occasions. NASA's solar-powered Opportunity rover came to an end due to a planet-sized dust storm.
NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have nothing to worry about because they're nuclear powered. There has been an increase in background haze.
MRO has been collecting data about how and why storms form for 17 years. Zurek said they were trying to capture the patterns of the storms so they could better predict when they would happen. We learn more about the atmosphere of Mars with each observation.
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