LOS ANGELES: Nasa Officially Retired Mars The InSight lander, the first robotic probe specifically designed to study the deep interior of a distant world, four years after it reached the red planet’s surface, the US space agency announced. on Wednesday.
Mission controllers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles determined the mission was over when two consecutive attempts to re-establish radio communication with the lander failed. , an indication that InSight’s solar batteries have run out of power.
NASA predicted in late October that the spacecraft would reach the end of its operational life after a few weeks as dust accumulates more and more on the solar panels, depleting the batteries’ ability to recharge.
JPL engineers will continue to listen for signals from the lander, just in case, but listen from Clear look again impossible, Nasa said. Tripod fixed probe last contacted with Earth on December 15th.
InSight landed on Mars in late November 2018 with instruments designed to detect planetary seismic rumbles that have never been measured anywhere but Earth, and its initial two-year mission. it was later extended to four years.
From its perch on a large and relatively flat plain called Elysium Planitia just north of the planet’s equator, the lander has given scientists a new understanding of the structure’s interior. of Mars.
The InSight data reveal the thickness of the planet’s outer crust, the size and density of the inner core, and the structure of the mantle in between, the researchers say.
One of InSight’s main achievements was proving that the red planet is indeed seismically active, recording more than 1,300 earthquakes. It also measures seismic waves generated by meteorite impacts.
“The seismic data from this discovery program mission alone provides tremendous insights not only about Mars but also about Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of NASA’s science mission board. other rocky bodies, including Earth”.
Such an impact was discovered a year ago that surprisingly excavated rock-sized chunks of water ice near Mars’ equator.
Even as InSight retires, a more recent robotic visitor to the red planet, NASA science Persistcontinues to prepare a collection of Martian mineral samples for future analysis on Earth.
This week, Perseverance sent the first of 10 sample tubes it was instructed to leave at a surface collection site on Mars as a backup buffer, in case a primary supply is stored. in the rover’s belly for some reason could not be transferred as planned for a future retrieval spacecraft, Nasa said.
Mission controllers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles determined the mission was over when two consecutive attempts to re-establish radio communication with the lander failed. , an indication that InSight’s solar batteries have run out of power.
NASA predicted in late October that the spacecraft would reach the end of its operational life after a few weeks as dust accumulates more and more on the solar panels, depleting the batteries’ ability to recharge.
JPL engineers will continue to listen for signals from the lander, just in case, but listen from Clear look again impossible, Nasa said. Tripod fixed probe last contacted with Earth on December 15th.
InSight landed on Mars in late November 2018 with instruments designed to detect planetary seismic rumbles that have never been measured anywhere but Earth, and its initial two-year mission. it was later extended to four years.
From its perch on a large and relatively flat plain called Elysium Planitia just north of the planet’s equator, the lander has given scientists a new understanding of the structure’s interior. of Mars.
The InSight data reveal the thickness of the planet’s outer crust, the size and density of the inner core, and the structure of the mantle in between, the researchers say.
One of InSight’s main achievements was proving that the red planet is indeed seismically active, recording more than 1,300 earthquakes. It also measures seismic waves generated by meteorite impacts.
“The seismic data from this discovery program mission alone provides tremendous insights not only about Mars but also about Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of NASA’s science mission board. other rocky bodies, including Earth”.
Such an impact was discovered a year ago that surprisingly excavated rock-sized chunks of water ice near Mars’ equator.
Even as InSight retires, a more recent robotic visitor to the red planet, NASA science Persistcontinues to prepare a collection of Martian mineral samples for future analysis on Earth.
This week, Perseverance sent the first of 10 sample tubes it was instructed to leave at a surface collection site on Mars as a backup buffer, in case a primary supply is stored. in the rover’s belly for some reason could not be transferred as planned for a future retrieval spacecraft, Nasa said.
