Yesterday, we mentioned the extension of the OSIRIS-REx mission, but seven other planetary science missions are also getting extended.

According to NASA, most of the missions will get three-year extensions, but OSIRIS-REx will get a nine-year extension to do OSIRIS-APEX.

The InSight lander on Mars will get an eight-month extension to the end of 2022, provided its electrical power lasts that long. Its solar panels are currently mostly covered in dust and it might not last until the end of the year unless a “dust devil” clears them off.

Mars Odyssey got a three-year extension, but it is running out of propellant after 21 years in Mars orbit and might end sooner than that.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is getting a three-year extension, though it will continue without its CRISM spectrometer since that instrument’s cryocooler broke after sixteen years in Mars orbit. Beth is incredibly brokenhearted about that loss.

MAVEN will continue its mission, observing the changes to Mars’s atmosphere through a full solar cycle. Curiosity is getting a three-year extension to continue exploring Mount Sharp. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and New Horizons are also each getting three-year extensions.

So we have at least another three years of data being collected at Mars from almost everything NASA currently has on or orbiting the red planet, plus a few other treats around the solar system. We’ll definitely look forward to bringing you all that science news as it is published.

More Information

NASA press release