NASA’s InSight Mars lander took this final selfie on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The lander is covered with far more dust than it was in its first selfie, taken in December 2018, not long after landing – or in its second selfie, composed of images taken in March and April 2019. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s InSight Mars lander took this final selfie on April 24, 2022, the 1,211th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The lander is covered with far more dust than it was in its first selfie (see below), taken in December 2018, not long after landing – or in its second selfie (see below), composed of images taken in March and April 2019.
This is NASA InSight’s first full selfie on Mars. It displays the lander’s solar panels and deck. On top of the deck are its science instruments, weather sensor booms, and UHF antenna. The selfie was taken on December 6, 2018 (Sol 10). Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechThis is NASA InSight’s second full selfie on Mars. Since taking its first selfie, the lander has removed its heat probe and seismometer from its deck, placing them on the Martian surface; a thin coating of dust now covers the spacecraft as well. This selfie is a mosaic made up of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 – the 106th and 133rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission – by InSight’s Instrument Deployment Camera, located on its robotic arm. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The arm needs to move several times in order to capture a full selfie. Because InSight’s dusty solar panels are producing less power, the team will soon put the lander’s robotic arm in its resting position (called the “retirement pose”) for the last time in May of 2022.
This image alternates between Insight’s first and last selfies, for comparison purposes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the InSight mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.
it’s all fantastic stuff I love it I hope the perseverance rover don’t get damaged in any dust storm fold it’s solar panels in before it’s too late ???
So many millions spent in such many missions and nobody thinks about a process of cleaning the solar panels …. when those panels are critical to the mission. I Just dont get it.
What about retracting and expanding the panels again?
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it’s all fantastic stuff I love it I hope the perseverance rover don’t get damaged in any dust storm fold it’s solar panels in before it’s too late ???
Not a problem. Perseverance is nuclear powered.
So many millions spent in such many missions and nobody thinks about a process of cleaning the solar panels …. when those panels are critical to the mission. I Just dont get it.
What about retracting and expanding the panels again?