NASA’s InSight Mars lander is metal knee deep in an energy crisis, according to an initial report by Insider
Valued at $ 800 million, the robot lander initially landed in a Martian plain called Elysium Planitia in 2018, and during its lifetime has detected more than 500 earthquakes on Mars, launched the study of the Red Planet’s core to new depths and the passage of more than 10,000 dust devils.
However, this long list of scientific breakthroughs could come to a sudden end, as the relentless cold of the weather on Mars could permanently halt all operations.
At the time of writing, the InSight lander is in sleep mode while NASA engineers are working on it to avoid losing what’s left of its precious life.
NASA’s InSight could withstand the Mars winter and recharge
InSight’s landing area is unique. It’s called Elysium Planitia and lacks the powerful gusts of wind that NASA’s Perseverance rover enjoys. Gusts of wind are also referred to as ‘cleaning events’ because they blow accumulated Mars dust from the solar panels of NASA robots. Without this natural wind, the dust builds up into a thick, solar-resistant layer – and this is what happened to InSight, making it practically unable to absorb sunlight to generate more energy.
In February, InSight’s solar panels produced about 27% of their total energy capacity – and that’s when winter comes in Elysium Planitia. So NASA intentionally ordered InSight to go into “sleep” mode, which shuts down several instruments every day. But soon the robot will be forced to turn off all functions that are not necessary for survival.
However, there is hope. By halting all scientific operations, the InSight lander should be able to conserve enough critical power to maintain a warm environment for its systems to withstand the deadly cold nights on Mars – when temperatures plummet to -90 ° C .
“The amount of power that will be available in the coming months will be determined by the weather,” said Chuck Scott, Insight’s project manager, in an official statement. We’re almost halfway through the robot’s scheduled hibernation period, but while InSight looks good for now, the risk of a potentially fatal power outage hasn’t diminished in the least. If the robot’s batteries die, it could spell doom for the intrepid lander.
“We would hope we could bring it back to life, especially if it hasn’t been asleep or dead for a long time,” said Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator, in a Insider report. “But that would be a tricky situation.” NASA plans to restart full InSight operations once the Red Planet flies closer to the sun in July this year. If it pulls through Mars’s harrowing winter weather, the robot lander can continue to listen for earthquakes and study the weather until 2022.
A random dust storm on Mars could spell doom for NASA’s InSight
InSight’s lack of power influenced NASA’s decision to leave the lander’s “mole” in January. It is designed to dig into the surface and measure temperatures deep in the crust of Mars – data much needed to understand the deep history of the Red Planet, in addition to its internal structure. But scientists must give up access to more data while the lander shuts down its instruments – with weather readings becoming rare and earthquake signals expected to cease in the next month or so.
Banderdt may also dilute the lander with some big misses – but it’s better to save the entire lander than to sacrifice all future measurements for one alone. If or when InSight loses battery power, the scientist explained, “it’s a good zombie spacecraft” – meaning it will actively charge and reboot once it has access to sunlight.
“The problem with that scenario is that the spacecraft is now very, very cold,” added Banderdt. “And this happens during the coldest part of the year for the spacecraft. A lot of electronics are quite delicate.”
“And it is unfortunately quite likely that something would be damaged by the cold.”
While the signs point to doom and gloom for NASA’s InSight lander, things could get worse. If any dust storm flares up in the next four or five months, more dust could end up on InSight’s solar panels. Fortunately for the robot, this isn’t dust storm season. “We think we’re doing pretty well, but Mars is unpredictable,” Banerdt added. “We never know exactly what’s going to happen.”