NASA’s only spacecraft probing Marsquake is retiring from the Red planet soon, Here’s why

NASA’s Mars lander is officially retiring. InSight, the first and only spacecraft to probe Marsquakes recently took to its Twitter handle to share that it would sign off soon.

InSight mentioned that its power is low, which means that it might be its last image. 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”, it posted.” it further said. The rover also mentioned in its previous tweets that NASA was aware of its condition and position on Mars.

On November 26, the rover wrote a message saying that it had been a lucky journey and that it had managed to live safely on two planets. It thanked its team and expressed its pride. InSight soft landed on the Red planet in 2018 to detect seismic activity on its surface. Thanks to my team for sending me on this journey of discovery. Hope I’ve done you proud” it said.

It was reported in October that the InSight rover’s solar panels got covered with dust from a storm, which prevented sunlight from recharging its batteries. It was also reported that the rover would stop communicating with the space centre in a couple of weeks.

Since it landed on Mars, InSight has been studying the planet’s seismic activities. It has also gained data on over 1,300 quakes. According to the researchers, the surface of Mars has more iron than the Earth.

NASA stated that InSight’s payload includes a pair of instruments. One of these is a seismic experiment that was provided by the CNES, a space agency from France. The other is a package that was provided by the DLR.

The experiments are designed to measure the interior structure and rotation of Mars. They are carried by spacecraft that is based on the Phoenix design. This is NASA’s low-risk and proven method for accessing the planet’s surface.