Another dust storm could kill the struggling lander forever.
Battery saver
NASA’s InSight Lander is in trouble.
InSight, which has been conducting important research on the surface of Mars since the 2018 plant, has been caked in so much dust that the solar panels cannot harness enough energy to remain operational. Insider reports. NASA has gradually switched off InSight’s instruments and put the lander in hibernation mode to save energy, and the agency seems optimistic that it will succeed. But the weather from Mars is unpredictable, and another dust storm could be enough to kill the Rover forever.
Planets Teen Zombies
NASA usually relies on powerful gusts to clean the solar panels on its Marslanders and Rovers. But there was no breeze in Elysium Planitia, InSight’s landing site, and dangerous amounts of dust piled up.
Over the next month, Insider reportedly, NASA scientists are likely to put InSight into full hibernation mode so that it can conserve its batteries and focus entirely on continuing to work until the summer of Mars begins. Even InSight’s batteries are dying, Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s chief investigator, expects it to eventually return like a “zombie spacecraft” as the planet moves closer to the sun.
“We will hope that we will be able to bring it back to life, especially if it has not been asleep or dead for a long time,” Banerdt said. Insider. “But it will be a difficult situation.”
Cryogenic sleep
But without power or heat, many of InSight’s instruments and components, which Banerdt told Insider ‘fairly fine’ can be irreparably damaged or destroyed by the harsh colds of the Martian winter.
NASA thinks the lander in danger will survive the winter in some form, Banerdt said Insider. But if just one duststorm hits InSight in the next few months before summer begins, it could all be over. Unfortunately, there is not much left but wait to see what happens.
READ MORE: NASA’s lander of InSight Mars is in an emergency hibernation. If it can not save its batteries, it can die. [Insider]
More about InSight: Mars Lander discovers mysterious “Marsquakes”
As a Futurism reader, we invite you to speak at the Singularity Global Community, our parent company’s forum, about futuristic science and technology with like-minded people from around the world. It’s free to join, sign up now!