NASA’s InSight Lander, an unmanned spacecraft that has been collecting information on the surface of Mars since 2018, has caked in so much dust that solar panels cannot harness the energy the lander needs to stay operational.
Business Insider reports that the lander is located on a portion of the red planet known as the Elysium Planitia. Forces gusts of wind that normally pass through the area did not flush through to clear the panels.
According to The Hill, the rover itself is still in a functional condition at present, but it runs the risk of getting a fatal power outage if the batteries are not charged relatively quickly. If the lander’s batteries run out, so will the lander.
To address this issue, NASA has incrementally turned off several instruments on the InSight lander, reports The Hill. Soon the lander will go into hibernation mode and it will remain in that area until July 2021 when the red planet is closer to the sun.
Winters are tough on Mars and my power generation is low, as expected, but I don’t have to panic. My energy levels will drop until the end of July, but as I get further into spring, it will improve. I’m still very busy burying my seismometer cable and collecting vibration data. pic.twitter.com/UIdUL9jMVv
– NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) 15 April 2021
“The amount of power available over the next few months will really be driven by the weather,” said Chuck Scott, project manager at InSight (via ScienceAlert.com).
Bruce Banerdt, lead researcher at InSight Lander, added: ‘We would be hopeful of being able to bring it back to life, especially if it has not been asleep or dead for a long time. … But that would be a difficult situation “(via ScienceAlert.com).
Business Insider reports that if the lander can survive the Mars winter without completely draining its power, the InSight will be back in action to map earthquakes and the weather on the red planet in 2022.
According to ScienceAlert.com, NASA’s InSight lander has detected more than 500 tremors and registered more than 10,000 dust devils since arriving on Mars in 2018.