NASA officially pulls the plug for InSight Mars lander program
The InSight Mars lander is officially retired by NASA. On December 15, the agency received no response from the lander.
NASA officially ended its InSight Mars mission on Wednesday after two consecutive failed attempts to re-establish contact. The lander sent its last message to Earth on December 15th. After two unsuccessful attempts at communication earlier this year, NASA stated that it would have to make the difficult decision to terminate the mission. The organization says that it will keep listening for a signal "just in case," but that the chances of that happening right now are "considered unlikely."
NASA officially pulls the plug for InSight Mars lander program
My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. 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. pic.twitter.com/wkYKww15kQ
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) December 19, 2022
On Monday, NASA announced the impending demise of InSight by tweeting the final selfie taken by the lander on April 24, 2022. Since showing up on the martian surface in 2018, Knowledge has steadily gathered dust on its sunlight based chargers. NASA predicted earlier this year that the debris would get so thick that the lander wouldn't be able to power itself.
InSight's final tweet states, "My power is extremely low, so this may be the last image I can send." But don't worry about me: my time here has been both useful and peaceful. I'll keep in touch with my mission team if I can, but I'll be leaving soon. I appreciate your staying with me.
