'Mars Geologist' Sends Final Selfie and Ends Mission [Reading Science]

The American Mars rover InSight, which can no longer operate due to dust accumulating on its solar panels. Photo by NASA.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] NASA's Mars lander, nicknamed the "Mars Geologist," InSight, has fallen silent after sending a final selfie as its last mission.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on the 25th that InSight sent a photo of itself covered in dust, marking the completion of its de facto final mission.

When InSight landed near the Martian equator on the Elysium Planitia in late November 2018, it was equipped with a 5000w/h capacity solar panel, but now it produces only about one-tenth of that power due to the heavy dust covering its surface.

Launched in 2018 to explore Mars' internal geological structure, InSight has carried out various scientific missions such as seismic detection for over three and a half years. It has measured more than 1,300 marsquakes and last month detected the strongest marsquake ever recorded, with a magnitude of 5, contributing significantly to the study of Mars' geological structure. However, it was not equipped with any direct dust removal mechanism. NASA engineers managed to remove some dust last year by shaking and blowing wind on the panels, but dust continued to accumulate, making it impossible to generate enough power to continue the mission.

InSight's seismic sensor is still operational but is expected to shut down during this summer. NASA officials say that if they are lucky and the power lasts a bit longer than expected or if wind removes some of the dust from the solar panels, InSight might be able to perform a few more tasks until the end of this year.

This is the second time the U.S. has lost contact with a Mars rover due to dust preventing power generation, following the Opportunity rover in 2018. Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 and operated for nearly 15 years, far exceeding its expected 90-day lifespan, but eventually ceased operations due to dust. The Ingenuity helicopter, which arrived on Mars in February last year and succeeded in powered flight, is also facing a threat of mission suspension due to dust. Ingenuity temporarily lost contact with its mothership, the Perseverance rover, earlier this month but has since been restored.

Meanwhile, other rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance generate electricity through nuclear power and are not affected by dust concerns.