The above photo may be the last photo sent back from Mars by the InSight probe. Since landing on Mars in November 2018, the robot has been taking photos and collecting data about the Martian environment. During this period, its solar panels also slowly accumulated dust. By this year, as NASA had expected, the dust had finally grown so thick that it was affecting InSight’s power supply.
“My battery is low and this may be the last photo I will send back. But please don’t worry about me, my time on Mars has been peaceful and productive. If you can continue to communicate with the mission team, I will definitely do so, but unfortunately I will be offline from here soon. Thank you for staying with me,” wrote InSight’s official Twitter page.
During the Mars exploration, InSight provided NASA scientists with data on more than 500 “marsquakes” and at least one meteorite impact. Based on this information, NASA has concluded that the core of Mars is about half the size of Earth, and that the elements that make it up may be lighter than previously thought. InSight’s four years on Mars can be said to have made a lot of achievements. Regardless of whether it will have the opportunity to go online again in the future, we are all grateful to this robot “astronaut” for his contributions to mankind.