NASA has been able to document the largest earthquake recorded on Mars

NASA's InSight spacecraft, which has been roaming Mars since 2018 to explore the planet's interior, will soon cease operations because the solar panels required to charge its battery have been covered in red star dust. Meanwhile, it has managed to document a powerful earthquake

Niv Lillian

26/05/2022

Thursday, 26 May 2022, 12:50 Updated: 13:07

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Ice water at the North Pole on Mars.

Elements of this image furnished by NASA (Photo: ShutterStock, Pike-28)

NASA's InSight landing on Mars has been covered in a thick layer of dust, so according to the latest selfie sent by the dust, which covers its solar panels and prevents it from charging, will probably end her life and her last mission, the US space agency announced this week

. Before InSight enters its winter sleep (NASA hopes there may be another way to shake off the dust from the panels, thus preserving some of the remaining battery life), it managed to document the largest earthquake recorded on Mars earlier this month, at magnitude 5. InSight The seismometer documented more than 1,300 earthquakes across the Red Star, which also occurred hundreds of miles away.

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Dust InSight landing:

Before losing more solar energy, I took some time to take in my surroundings and snapped my final selfie before I rested my arm and camera permanently in the stowed position.

More on my final months ahead: https://t.co/eATDXbOlx2 pic.twitter.com/q7gso8NSjv

- NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) May 24, 2022

Currently, the solar-powered lander operates at only one-tenth the capacity of its 5,000-watt-hour battery.

InSight landed on Mars in 2018, with the goal of better understanding the planet's interior.

The information she has gathered is essential to the study of the Red Star, but a lander whose power is no longer with her, literally, will stop her scientific research activities, in order to preserve the little power that remains.

The information collected by InSight has revealed new details about Mars and its core, inner layers and shell.

It also documented weather, and analyzed the remnants of the magnetic field that once existed on Mars.

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• NASA

• Mars