(ORDO NEWS) — The solar-powered InSight is now running at about a tenth of its 5,000-watt-hour capacity, Space.com writes. The photo shows how much regolith has accumulated on its solar panels over the past three years.
The space probe arrived at Mars in November 2018. Its goal is to study the seismic activity of the Red Planet, and the device coped well with this. So, during his work, he recorded more than 1300 marsquakes.
Unfortunately, in its current state, the probe can no longer receive enough power to function properly. NASA experts are trying to figure out how to increase the time of his “life“, but so far the result has been unsuccessful. The scientific mission had to be suspended, and it is possible that the selfie sent by InSight will be his last.
The image below shows the Martian lander just after it landed on the planet’s surface in 2018 (left) and in May 2022 (right), when dust on its solar arrays noticeably reduced its power:
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