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NASA’s three-and-a-half-year mission to collect seismic data from Mars is running out of juice

A magnitude 5 'marsquake' was recorded by NASA's InSight Mars lander on May 4. This is the strongest quake ever detected on another planet.

The lander has taken measures to conserve energy; engineers aim to return to normal operations next week.

NASAs InSight Mars Lander Gets a Power Boost The spacecraft successfully cleared some dust off its solar panels, helping to raise its energy and delay when it will need to switch off its science instruments. The team behind NASA’s InSight Mars lander has come up with an innovative way to boost the spacecraft’s energy at a time when its power levels have been falling. The lander’s robotic arm trickled sand near one solar panel, helping the wind to carry off some of the panel’s dust. The ...

April 01, 2021 NASA’s InSight lander used the scoop on its robotic arm to begin trickling soil over the cable connecting its seismometer to the spacecraft on March 14, 2021, the 816th Martian day, or sol of the mission. Scientists hope this make it easier to detect marsquakes by helping to insulate the cable from the wind and from the extreme temperature shifts that cause the cable to expand and contract. JPL manages InSight for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA’...

January 21, 2021 The mission team for NASA’s InSight lander called off its attempts to try to dig deeper into Mars with the heat probe known as “the mole.” Meanwhile, the rest of the mission gained an extension to December 2022. Here’s the NASA’s InSight lander’s heat probe – nicknamed “the mole” – on October 3, 2020, when the spike-like mole was still trying to burrow into the red Martian soil. The copper-colored ribbon attached to the mole has sensors to measure the planet...

After two years of futile struggles to penetrate surprisingly sticky soil, the heat probe’s demise leaves large gaps in our understanding of the Red Planet’s interior

NASAs InSight lander has been studying the red planet for more than two years now. During that time, InSIght has ...

In this artists concept of NASAs InSight lander on Mars, layers of the planets subsurface can be seen below, and dust devils can be seen in the background. Credits: IPGP/Nicolas Sarter. The heat probe hasn’t been able to gain the friction it needs to dig, but the mission has been granted an extension to carry on with its other science. The heat probe developed and built by the German Aerospace Center and deployed on Mars by NASA’s InSight lander has ended its portion of the mission. Since ...

The spacecraft with solar arrays made in Goleta launched from Vandenberg AFB in 2018 This illustration shows NASA’s InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface. The solar arrays on the left and right sides of InSight were built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems in Goleta and keep the craft powered for its mission. By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor | @JaneneScully January 16, 2021 | 9:38 p.m. The Mars InSight mole’s role will end, but oth...