The MRO spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars for many years, has captured the InSight probe on the planet’s surface. The mission of the latter has already ended. However, it is still used for scientific research.
Completion of the InSight mission
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recently photographed the InSight lander, documenting dust accumulation on the spacecraft’s solar panels. In a new image taken on October 23 by MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight’s solar panels have taken on the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.
After landing in November 2018, the lander became the first to detect the Red Planet’s quakes, revealing details of the crust, mantle and core in the process. During the four years that the spacecraft collected science data, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the mission, used images from MRO’s InSight and HiRISE cameras to estimate how much dust settled on the stationary landing module’s solar panels as dust affected its ability to generate power.
NASA retired InSight in December 2022 after the vehicle ran out of battery power during a long mission and stopped communicating with Earth. But engineers kept listening for radio signals from the landing module in case the wind blew enough dust off the spacecraft’s solar panels to recharge its batteries. Finding no changes over the past two years, NASA will stop listening to InSight at the end of this year.
Scientists requested a recent HiRISE image to say goodbye to InSight, and to track the changes in its landing site over time.
InSight study of dust vortices and craters
Dust is the driving force on Mars, forming both the atmosphere and the landscape. Its study helps scientists understand the planet, and engineers prepare for future missions (solar-powered and otherwise) because dust can get into sensitive mechanical parts.
When InSight was still in operation, scientists matched MRO images of dusty tracks winding across the landscape with data from the landing module’s wind sensors, finding that these swirling weather events subside in winter and reappear in summer.
The images have also helped in studying meteorite impacts on the surface of Mars. The more craters in a region, the older its surface. The tracks around these craters disappear over time. Understanding how quickly dust covers them helps to determine the age of the crater.
Another way to estimate how quickly the craters disappear is to study the ring of burst traces left by InSight’s retrorocket thrusters during landing. Much more noticeable in 2018, these dark trails are now reverting back to the red-brown color of the surrounding area.
MRO images of other spacecraft
HiRISE has taken many other spacecraft images, including NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, which are still exploring Mars, as well as inactive missions such as the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the Phoenix lander.
“It feels a little bittersweet to look at InSight now. It was a successful mission that produced lots of great science. Of course, it would have been nice if it kept going forever, but we knew that wouldn’t happen,” said Ingrid Daubar, a member of the science team that studied the images.
Provided by phys.org
