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A series of images show simulated views of a dark Martian sky softening the sun from the viewpoint of NASA’s Opportunity spacecraft as a dust storm erupted in June 2018.
NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory- California Institute of Technology / TAMU
The lack of InSight energy contributed to NASA’s decision Ignore the landing craft “mole” In January. This drilling probe is supposed to measure temperatures deep within the Martian crust – important data in studying the history and internal structure of the planet.
Now scientists will lose even more data when the probe shuts down its instruments. Cut Martian weather measurements They’re becoming rare, and in the next few months, you’ll stop listening to earthquakes.
Banerdt said he feared the spacecraft would miss some major earthquakes, but it was good to keep the robots alive. If the InSight battery dies, he adds, “that’s a good zombie spaceship” – meaning it’s programmed to recharge and restart as soon as the sun rises.
“The problem with this scenario is that meanwhile, the spacecraft is very cold. This happened during the coldest part of the year for a spacecraft, “said Banerdt. “A lot of electronic devices are very sensitive. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that something will be damaged by the cold. “
Banerdt suspects this is what happened to Spirit and Opportunity. The two of them ran out of power on the surface of Mars and were unable to restart. He hopes InSight doesn’t have to die.
“Right now, our prediction, and our expectation is that we should be able to get past the bottom of the strength and get out the other side,” said Banerdt.
However, a strange dust storm in the next four or five months could change the scale by accumulating more dirt on InSight’s solar panels. This is what happens with opportunity. Fortunately, however, this is not dust storm season.
“We thought we were rich, but Mars is unpredictable. We never know exactly what will happen, “said Banerdt.
Correction: Previous versions of this story indicated that InSight was hibernating. The probe will not be in full hibernation mode until all scientific instruments are turned off.
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