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The end has long been in sight for InSight, the NASA lander that’s been stationed on Mars since 2018.
Project officials warned in May that the lander would likely become inoperative by the end of the year because of the dust that had accumulated on its solar panels, diminishing its power source. By early November, NASA announced the end was near and started taking steps to wind down the mission.
The lander has also been transparent about its imminent demise on Twitter, where it’s provided regular updates — in a tone of what some might call mournful acceptance — to its nearly 800,000 followers.
It’s shared new discoveries, pledges to keep operating as long as it can, news of its coming retirement, tributes to friends made along the way and thanks to the well-wishers who sent it postcards from around the world.
And on Monday afternoon Eastern Time, it posted what might be its final update — an image of the planet’s rocky surface and horizon line.
“My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send,” the lander tweeted. “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.”
NASA announced in a blog post that InSight had not responded to communications from Earth the previous day. The mission said its last contact was on Thursday, and it’s not known what “prompted the change in its energy.”
The team will try again to reach the lander — NASA will declare the mission over when InSight misses two consecutive communication sessions — but it doesn’t sound optimistic.
“The lander’s power has been declining for months, as expected, and it’s assumed InSight may have reached its end of operations,” the agency said.
