01/11/2023
๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฎ....๐
On December 18, the communication between the InSight spacecraft on Mars and Earth completely broke down. This is a photo taken from it before that. NASA says that this is probably the last photo taken by InSight on December 11th.
At the end of last July, InSight was put into low-power mode and its scientific mission was almost stopped after that. In this low-power mode, the spacecraft collects scientific data for only a few minutes a day and remains inactive for most of the rest of the time.
In November 2018, the InSight spacecraft that landed in the area called Elysium Planitia of Mars was planned for a 728-day mission. But it was functioning very well for 1480 days when it was deactivated.
But due to the dust storms on Mars, the solar panels of the InSight plane gradually started to get covered with dust, and because of this, it became a problem to supply the power needed to operate the plane. The second photo above shows how the solar panels looked at the beginning of the operation, and at that time the pair of panels produced about 5,000 watt hours per day.
But by last April, the state of those solar panels can be seen in the third photo. It is clear to you that it is completely covered with dust. At that time it produced only 500 watt hours per day.
Mars also has an orbital inclination of 25.2 degrees to the Sun and thus has 4 seasons like Earth. The scientists in charge of the project had planned to put the spacecraft into low-power state since the start of Martian winter on July 21st, due to the decrease in sunlight. Due to this, they assumed that the InSight spacecraft will be completely disabled by this December due to the gradual decrease in the amount of sunlight.
InSight is a plane that has provided a lot of valuable information about the planet Mars and its internal structure, its tectonic plates and magnetic field. Insight, which has sent data back to Earth about more than 1,300 Martian earthquakes, recently reported a magnitude 5 quake. This is the note posted on the official Twitter account of NASA InSight about this sad news.
"My powerโs really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Donโt worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will โ but Iโll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me."
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐...๐ธ
