Zürcher Nachrichten - End of the line nears for NASA InSight Mars lander

EUR -
AED 4.313393
AFN 81.129971
ALL 98.000268
AMD 450.91819
ANG 2.101746
AOA 1076.885868
ARS 1474.349145
AUD 1.793323
AWG 2.116779
AZN 1.996831
BAM 1.962815
BBD 2.371175
BDT 142.976759
BGN 1.953361
BHD 0.442718
BIF 3449.087484
BMD 1.174357
BND 1.505481
BOB 8.115004
BRL 6.540117
BSD 1.174397
BTN 101.413467
BWP 16.370511
BYN 3.843337
BYR 23017.403706
BZD 2.359032
CAD 1.598447
CDF 3389.195136
CHF 0.931406
CLF 0.029154
CLP 1118.786468
CNY 8.427181
CNH 8.420007
COP 4783.263105
CRC 592.317031
CUC 1.174357
CUP 31.120469
CVE 110.657208
CZK 24.613594
DJF 208.706971
DKK 7.465278
DOP 70.883348
DZD 152.372675
EGP 57.630058
ERN 17.61536
ETB 162.921707
FJD 2.636669
FKP 0.870122
GBP 0.868572
GEL 3.182684
GGP 0.870122
GHS 12.242757
GIP 0.870122
GMD 83.972707
GNF 10189.113773
GTQ 9.013215
GYD 245.698163
HKD 9.218629
HNL 30.735855
HRK 7.533033
HTG 154.110816
HUF 398.955047
IDR 19102.918412
ILS 3.934038
IMP 0.870122
INR 101.407519
IQD 1538.39847
IRR 49455.124433
ISK 142.414016
JEP 0.870122
JMD 188.323095
JOD 0.832612
JPY 172.144932
KES 151.726929
KGS 102.697477
KHR 4706.822902
KMF 495.578367
KPW 1056.958009
KRW 1621.946011
KWD 0.35832
KYD 0.978698
KZT 626.609598
LAK 25327.524429
LBP 105224.889781
LKR 354.248597
LRD 235.461576
LSL 20.674393
LTL 3.467571
LVL 0.710357
LYD 6.362551
MAD 10.5802
MDL 19.917187
MGA 5198.580518
MKD 61.778966
MMK 2464.920876
MNT 4215.09541
MOP 9.49584
MRU 46.611597
MUR 53.421477
MVR 18.079358
MWK 2036.378326
MXN 21.898887
MYR 4.969295
MZN 75.111132
NAD 20.674393
NGN 1797.377536
NIO 43.213163
NOK 11.836218
NPR 162.261949
NZD 1.958388
OMR 0.451539
PAB 1.174397
PEN 4.181521
PGK 4.936497
PHP 66.784554
PKR 334.663213
PLN 4.250727
PYG 8930.65335
QAR 4.281676
RON 5.069
RSD 117.151532
RUB 92.190611
RWF 1697.567364
SAR 4.405364
SBD 9.729662
SCR 16.598934
SDG 705.201506
SEK 11.177004
SGD 1.501422
SHP 0.92286
SLE 27.010422
SLL 24625.690707
SOS 671.198967
SRD 43.020819
STD 24306.825753
STN 24.587881
SVC 10.27542
SYP 15268.827062
SZL 20.680917
THB 37.778825
TJS 11.274095
TMT 4.121994
TND 3.439293
TOP 2.750461
TRY 47.463062
TTD 7.975506
TWD 34.521338
TZS 3065.073334
UAH 49.057979
UGX 4214.061698
USD 1.174357
UYU 47.419484
UZS 14800.900673
VES 137.358704
VND 30703.572444
VUV 139.476948
WST 3.095763
XAF 658.3099
XAG 0.029976
XAU 0.000343
XCD 3.173759
XCG 2.116565
XDR 0.819535
XOF 658.29021
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.961661
ZAR 20.670392
ZMK 10570.61886
ZMW 27.158067
ZWL 378.142582
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

End of the line nears for NASA InSight Mars lander
End of the line nears for NASA InSight Mars lander / Photo: - - NASA/JPL-Caltech/AFP

End of the line nears for NASA InSight Mars lander

After some four years probing Mars' interior, NASA's InSight lander will likely retire this summer as accumulated dust on its solar panels saps its power.

Text size:

The lander will, however, leave behind a legacy of data that will be tapped by scientists around the world for years to come, helping to improve our understanding of planet formation, NASA said, while announcing on Tuesday the imminent end to InSight's science operations.

Equiped with an ultra-sensitive seismometer, InSight recorded more than 1,300 "marsquakes," including a magnitude 5 quake on May 4, the largest so far.

But around July, the seismometer will be turned off.

The lander's energy level will then be checked about once a day, and some pictures may still be taken. Then by the end of 2022, the mission will be completely stopped.

The cause: the accumulation over months of Martian dust on the lander's two solar panels, each measuring about seven feet (2.2 meters) wide.

InSight, which is already running on only a tenth of the energy it had at the beginning, will soon find its batteries drained.

The speed at which dust accumulated corresponded more or less to what had been estimated by NASA.

The lander got a new lease on life around a year ago, when its robotic arm was put to new and unplanned use to remove some dust from the solar panels, extending the mission.

The maneuver -- employed six times successfully -- saw the arm use dust itself to clear the panels, as it scooped up some martian soil and gently dropped onto the robot so the dirt was blown across the solar panels, clearing parts of their surface.

Adding something to the lander specifically to clean the panels was forgone due to costs, explained Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during a press conference Tuesday.

Such a mechanism would leave "less to put into the science instruments," he said.

- 'Treasure trove' -

InSight, one of four missions currently on the Red Planet -- along with the US rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, and China's Zhurong -- arrived on Mars in November 2018.

Its seismometer, made in France, has since paved the way for great advances.

"The interior was kind of just a giant question mark," said Banerdt, who has worked on the InSight mission for more than a decade.

But thanks to InSight, "we've been able to map out the inside of Mars for the very first time in history."

Seismic waves, varying based on the materials they pass through, offer a picture of the interior of the planet.

For example, scientists were able to confirm that the core of Mars is liquid and to determine the thickness of the Martian crust -- less dense than previously thought and likely consisting of three layers.

The magnitude 5 quake in early May was much larger than all those previously recorded and close to what scientists thought would be the maximum on Mars, though it would not be considered a huge tremor on Earth.

"This quake is really going to be a treasure trove of scientific information when we get our teeth into it," Banerdt said.

Earthquakes are in particular caused by plate tectonics, he explained. But, they can also be triggered when the Earth's crust moves due to temperature anomalies caused by its mantle.

It is this type of vibration that scientists think they are dealing with on Mars.

Not all of InSight's scientific operations have gone smoothly, however, such as when its heat probe had trouble being successfully buried below the surface to take the planet's temperature because of the composition of the soil where the robot landed.

Regardless, in light of the seismometer's success, NASA is considering using the technique elsewhere in the future, said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.

"We'd really like to set up a complete network on the moon to really understand what's going on there."

W.Vogt--NZN