NASA’s InSight lander is nearing the end of its lifespan on Mars. Monday, the rover’s official Twitter account posted one of the most heartbreaking things you’ll read all week. Sharing another snapshot of the Red Planet’s dusty horizon, the rover confirmed it’s actively running out of power; enough so, the picture shared with the tweet may be the last thing it ever transmits back to Earth.
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“My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me,” the InSight account tweeted Monday.
What is NASA’s InSight rover doing?
InSight was launched in May 2018 and designed to study the deep interior of Mars. Landing on the fourth planet from the Sun November 2018, the rover has been active ever since, studying the planet’s seismic activity and returning 3D models of the planet’s interior. Upon launch, InSight was only expected to last for two years, meaning it at least doubled its life expectancy on the planet. Following the heartbreaking tweet, NASA officials shared a blog post in which it said the rover may already be dead.
“On Dec. 18, 2022, NASA’s InSight did not respond to communications from Earth. The lander’s power has been declining for months, as expected, and it’s assumed InSight may have reached its end of operations. It’s unknown what prompted the change in its energy; the last time the mission contacted the spacecraft was on Dec. 15, 2022,” the blog post reads.
What other missions is NASA operating on Mars?
There are a number of studies happening on the Red Planet at any given time. Though InSight may be done, NASA is still operating the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. Curiosity has been operating on the planet for 10 years while Perseverance landed on the surface last year. It’s expected Curiosity should last at least five more years using its nuclear energy while Perseverance still has an estimated decade left on its lifespan.
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The silhouette of US engineer and NASA astronaut Megan McArthur is seen past the NASA logo in the Webb Auditorium at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, on June 7, 2022. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
