Another mission we’re keeping an eye on is NASA’s InSight. The can-do lander which was plagued by a variety of issues but kept on ticking and tracking wind and quakes is approaching the end of its mission as dust continues to collect on the solar panels. A recent dust storm that started out 3,500 kilometers away from the lander in September became a global storm that eventually increased the haze by 40% over InSight.

Sadly, this means that with even less solar power, InSight’s seismometer has been turned off for a couple of weeks. Project manager Chuck Scott is cautiously optimistic, saying: If we can ride this out, we can keep operating into winter – but I’d worry about the next storm that comes along.

The lander has already far surpassed its primary mission and has been well into its extended mission, measuring marsquakes and learning more about the martian interior. While we’ll be sad to see InSight’s mission end, we are excited to see what breakthroughs the already collected data will continue to bring.

More Information

NASA JPL press release