NASA has announced the termination of the InSight Mars landing mission. About informs Press service of the Jet Propulsion Lab.
The InSight probe, designed to collect data about the interior of Mars, became operational in 2018. Its main instrument is a seismometer, and the second most important is a probe for measuring heat flow through the intestines. The mission is now considered complete, as the jet propulsion lab’s flight controllers failed to communicate with the aircraft in two attempts. The last communication session took place on 15 December. Experts will continue to listen to InSight’s frequency in hopes of giving a signal, but that seems highly unlikely.
Scientists believe that the dust accumulated on the solar panels caused the device to shut down. It gradually accumulated over the years and reduced energy production. Now, it has apparently reached a critical threshold. Some experts had hoped the batteries would be swept away by whirlwinds of dust, but in the Elysian Plain where the device is located, the batteries are rare or not powerful enough.
However, the mission ended successfully as it ran for four years instead of the planned two, providing a wealth of data on the interior of Mars. Including the apparatus, it detected 1319 earthquakes, including earthquakes caused by meteorite impacts. Where the largest fell, it was possible to visually detect a rock. One of the most important discoveries of the apparatus can be considered its fixation. marking Volcanic activity on Mars, although the bowels of this planet are considered dead.