may 11, 2022 - NASA
NASA to Provide Update on InSight Mars Lander
NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, May 17, to provide an update on the agency’s InSight Mars lander. Visuals to accompany the teleconference will be available here shortly before it starts.
Updated Feb. 15, 2022, at 2:35 p.m. PST (5:35 p.m. EST):
Several weeks after the end of a dust storm on Mars, the solar panels of NASA’s InSight lander are producing almost as much power as they did before the storm. That power level should enable the lander to continue science operations into the summer.
The team anticipates that continued dust accumulation will progressively diminish the spacecraft’s overall power budget in the months ahead and has been carefully conserving energy by turning on science instruments for limited periods of time. Having completed all primary mission science objectives, the goal now is to enable the spacecraft to operate through the end of its extended mission in December. A passing whirlwind that removes dust or a new dust storm that increases the dust accumulation could alter the timeline.
Updated Jan. 19, 2022, 9:00 a.m. PST (12:00 p.m. EST):
NASA’s InSight has exited safe mode and resumed normal operations, although its science instruments remain off. Skies appear to be clearing of dust above the spacecraft. Over the next two weeks, the mission team will assess the effects of dust accumulation on the lander’s power.
NASA’s InSight Enters Safe Mode During Regional Mars Dust Storm
The lander has taken measures to conserve energy; engineers aim to return to normal operations next week.
NASA’s InSight lander is stable and sending health data from Mars to Earth after going into safe mode Friday, Jan. 7, following a large, regional dust storm that reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. In safe mode, a spacecraft suspends all but its essential functions.
The mission’s team reestablished contact with InSight Jan. 10, finding that its power was holding steady and, while low, was unlikely to be draining the lander’s batteries. Drained batteries are believed to have caused the end of NASA’s Opportunity rover during an epic series of dust storms that blanketed the Red Planet in 2018.
Even before this recent dust storm, dust had been accumulating on InSight’s solar panels, reducing the lander’s power supply. Using a scoop on the lander’s robotic arm, InSight’s team came up with an innovative way to reduce the dust on one panel, and gained several boosts of energy during 2021, but these activities become increasingly difficult as available energy decreases.
Dust storms can affect solar panels in two ways: Dust reduces sunlight filtering through the atmosphere, and it can also accumulate on the panels. Whether this storm will leave an additional layer of dust on the solar panels remains to be determined.
The current dust storm was first detected by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which creates daily color maps of the entire planet. Those maps allow scientists to monitor dust storms and can serve as an early warning system for spacecraft on the Martian surface. InSight’s team received data indicating the regional storm is waning.
The whirlwinds and gusts of dust storms have helped to clear solar panels over time, as with the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rover missions. While InSight’s weather sensors have detected many passing whirlwinds, none have cleared any dust.
InSight’s engineers are hopeful they will be able to command the lander to exit safe mode next week. This will allow more flexibility in operating the lander, as communication, which requires a relatively large amount of energy, is limited in safe mode to conserve battery charge.
InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018, to study the inner structure of the planet, including its crust, mantle and core. The spacecraft achieved its science objectives before its prime mission ended a year ago. #nasa then extended the mission for up to two years, to December 2022, based on the recommendation of an independent review panel composed of experts with backgrounds in science, operations and mission management.
1-pia23203-insight selfie already in pj
985x562, 783KB
Related news |
||
|
|
|
april 18, 2024
|
april 04, 2024
|
march 27, 2024
|
|
Astronomers recently used a trove of archived images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to visually snag a largely unsee... |
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV... |
NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during Artemis III. Onc... |
Download all 
You might be interested in |
||
|
|
|
february 28, 2024
|
february 13, 2024
|
january 30, 2024
|
|
NASA and Intuitive Machines will co-host a televised news conference at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 28, from the agency’s Johnson S... |
NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel,... |
As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technolo... |
Italian 
Download all 
Share
Share via mail 
Automotive
Sport
Events
Art&Culture
Design
Fashion&Beauty
Food&Hospitality
Technology
Nautica
Racing
Excellence
Corporate
OffBeat
Green
Gift
Pop
Heritage
Entertainment
Health & Wellness