reveal Mars’s interior makeup. InSight’s historic mission was only meant to last two years, but it was ultimately extended through 2022.
A tweet from the official NASA InSight Twitter late Monday afternoon shared what’s likely our final glimpse from the lander’s post at Elysium Planitia on Mars. It’s a scene that will be familiar to anyone who has followed the mission since its start, showing the dome of InSight’s seismometer in full view while its arms and other instruments peek out at the edges of the frame. All around it is the flat, dusty landscape of Elysium Planitia. “My power’s really low,” NASA InSight tweeted, “so this may be the last image I can send.”
InSight’s Mars Mission Comes To A Close
IPGP/Nicolas Sarter via NASA
InSight has been winding down for months as its operations team prepares for the lander to go dark. At the beginning of November, NASA estimated it had about a month or two of life left in it. Now, the end just might be here. “Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene,” the InSight added in the tweet. “If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will — but I’ll be g off here soon. Thanks for staying with me.”
The InSight lander achieved a lot of “firsts” in its four years on the red planet. Unlike a freely roaming rover, it has stayed in one spot for the duration of its Martian mission, with its figurative ears glued to the ground. It was the first endeavor to take the so-called vital signs of Mars, recording weather phenomena, tremors, and even the traces of magnetic signals from the planet’s long-ago electrical field. It was the first ever instrument to detect a quake on Mars — or on any planet other than Earth. InSight also confirmed that Mars has a molten core.
Thanks to InSight’s observations, we know more about the red planet than ever before. There’s still plenty of science being conducted on Mars that will carry on after InSight officially goes silent, too, with missions like that led by NASA’s Perseverance rover still chugging along.
Source: NASA InSight