InSight Mars lander is dying and NASA has no plan to save it

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The InSight Mars lander is dying as dust clouds on the Red Planet continue to pick up, and NASA doesn't appear to have any plans to save it.

Throughout the past few years, though, the dusty nature of the Martian surface has taken a toll on the lander. NASA officials say they had hoped that a gust of wind, or even a dust devil, would help clear some of the dust off the solar panels.

Unfortunately, though, the craft hasn’t been that lucky. As more dust continues to cake on, the InSight Mars lander is dying, its power supply slowly petering out.that the team isn’t focused on the doom and gloom of the situation. Instead, they are still focused on operating the spacecraft and capturing seismic readings as long as possible.Currently, NASA expects the InSight Mars lander to die sometime in July. The InSight team managed to clear some dust from one of the solar panels recently.

The space agency expects the batteries to finally run out of juice in July, though. By that time, the dust on the solar panels will be so caked on that it won’t be able to recharge itself. This isn’t the first time that NASA has lost a spacecraft to dust on Mars. In 2018, the Opportunity rover was lost to a massive global dust storm that hit the planet. InSight’s death isn’t quite as dramatic, as the dust has been accumulating over time.

 

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