'When I'll fall silent': InSight sends final message from Mars before NASA turns if off

With each passing day, the InSight lander on Mars is inching closer to eternal silence. Ever since its landing on November 26, 2018, InSight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) has been mapping the planet’s interior and detecting the biggest Marsquakes in the process. But its operations are expected to end soon as the thickening dust layer on its solar panels is cutting the power supply required to keep it ‘alive’.

"The day is coming when I’ll fall silent, ending my nearly four Earth years (over two Mars years) of studying the Red Planet," a tweeted from InSight's official Twitter handle read. "As my time winds down on Mars, my team is helping make sure scientists can get the most out of everything I’ve gathered."

NASA makes preparations before InSight’s ‘demise’

In the days to come, mission teams will store the trove of data for its distribution among research scientists across the world. After almost four years, InSight has gathered information about Mars’ interior layers, its liquid core, and remnants of its mostly extinct magnetic field beneath the surface. 

(InSight lander on Dec. 6, 2018; Image; NASA/JPL)

(InSight lander on April 24, 2022; Image: NASA/JPL)

In addition to this, its seismometer has detected over 1,300 Marsquakes during its entire lifetime, the biggest of which was of magnitude 5. Interestingly, InSight even managed to pick up shockwaves generated by meteoroids that crashed onto the Martian surface. Scientists believe that studying these seismic data would reveal more about all rocky worlds including Earth and the Moon actually form. 

“Finally, we can see Mars as a planet with layers, with different thicknesses, compositions,” said Bruce Banerdt, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We’re starting to really tease out the details. Now it’s not just this enigma; it’s actually a living, breathing planet.”

How long will InSight last?

“We were down to less than 20% of the original generating capacity,” said Banerdt. “That means we can’t afford to run the instruments around the clock.” Currently, only InSight’s seismometer is running since the power generation is extremely low to operate other instruments. Experts estimate that now that the seismometer is working again after the passing of a huge dust storm, InSight would last for just a few more weeks. "We’re pushing it to the very end," said mission team member Liz Barrett.