NASA's InSight Lander Age Now Depends on Weather on Mars

InSight Lander Robot on Mars (photo: NASA Doc)

JAKARTA - After nearly four years on Planet Mars, now the fate of NASA's InSight landing robot is on the verge of death.

Last time, NASA's InSight Lander took its final selfie on the Martian surface earlier this year, though it ended up being covered in Martian dust and running out of power.

At the same time, NASA stated that InSight is in a dying situation and the space agency has no intention or plan to save it.

Now, InSight's survival depends entirely on the weather on Mars. The lander has been there since 2018 to help scientists see deep into the Red Planet.

The InSight runs in the sun and the dust that has covered its solar panels, making the robot lander only a tenth of the power it can accommodate.

Scientists expect the lander to run out of power by the end of this summer, although it turns out that InSight is still collecting science data today and could continue to do so over the coming months, even into January.

However, it can all happen when the weather on Mars remains as calm as it has been for the past few weeks. But if there's a dust storm or something like that, then InSight's life isn't guaranteed.

Currently, InSight's ability to generate electricity is based on two main things, namely the dust on the solar panels, and the amount of dust in the air.

If a dust storm strikes, it will seriously threaten the survival of InSight as it will add more dust to the solar panels, and the air will be filled with dust.

The only real hope at this point is that InSight will continue to survive if the weather is good and dust levels are low in the Martian atmosphere.