Perhaps the pioneering Mars probe has just sent home one last frightening photo

It’s almost time To bid farewell to another Martian friend. Many missions to the Red Planet fell silent for the last time, some after many years of successful data collection and others after a brief free fall like a fireball. We will soon add another Mars explorer to this ever-growing list – Understanding Maybe he sent his last picture home.

a take photo It is in itself similar to hundreds of others that the probe has sent to Earth in the past four years. In the center of the image is the craft’s seismometer, which was focused on collecting data on it. concentrate And whose data has been used in dozens of articles. However, in this image it is visibly covered in the fine red dust that covers everything on the red planet.

This is the photo taken on November 6, 2022:

This dust also covers the InSight power supply. The solar panels are encapsulated en masse and are therefore able to provide less and less power to the lander itself. Unfortunately, InSight has also had good or bad luck in an area of ​​general tranquility for the Martian Dust Demons. While it can be difficult for the tools themselves to handle while this is happening, dust devils also do a remarkably good job of cleaning dust-covered solar panels.

Another dust buildup fact is the design decision the InSight team made early in the project. Several methods can help remove dust from solar panels. Compressed air vanes and vanes similar to those found in automobiles are the most common types. But InSight engineers decided not to include any of these systems in their probe.

Making these kinds of decisions is one of the hardest parts of engineering. Dust removal systems add weight, and therefore cost more money, to design and transport to Mars. Launch costs still consume a large portion of the project budget, so each system is checked to see if it is really needed. In the case of Insight, the team determined that the dust removal system was not working.

There was one critical factor that led to this decision – the relatively short duration of the Insight mission as a whole. It was planned to last only one year on Earth. It ended with four.

What’s next for InSight

Even without the dust removal system, the mission far exceeded its original expectations. Insight has cemented its place as one of the most prolific Mars probes to date. Their data has been the basis for dozens of articles, and we’ve come to understand everything from the presence (or lack of) liquid water around the probe to finding some magma in the same area.

Data like this would make any science team proud, and the Insight participants had plenty of time to see the end coming. UT first reported its power issues in May. But while it’s been going strong for the past six months, it may soon be time to bid farewell to Earth exploration with seismic, geodetic and thermal transfer investigation missions. He will not be forgotten, and may one day be brought back to life, when humans finally set foot in landscapes no one has yet seen.

This article was originally published the universe today by Andy Thomaswick🇧🇷 Read the The original article is here🇧🇷