NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Retired InSight Lander to Study Dust Movement

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) got a chance to take a very special photo on Mars. It saw the agency’s spacecraft InSight lander on Mars completely covered in the red planet’s dust. MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has taken these pictures. The pictures attract a lot of attention and show how Mars has been active for some time. The lander is now buried on the red and brown surface of the planet.

These pictures captured in the camera by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are not just pictures. These tell us what the atmosphere and its effects might be like on Mars. NASA’s JPL Explaining this he said that insight lander Solar panels appear covered in a layer of fine dust. This is the same sand and dust that is also seen all over the planet.

The InSight lander traveled to Mars from November 2018 to December 2022. This spacecraft took power from sunlight for its activities. But with the passage of time, dust started accumulating on its solar panels due to which its power generating capacity kept decreasing. Eventually one day it came to a complete standstill. Now dust is gathering on it.

NASA scientists wanted to bid a final farewell to the InSight lander. Also, the aim was to know through the last photo how the dust blowing on Mars behaves with the things present there as time passes. The InSight lander succeeded as the agency’s first mission to detect earthquakes on Mars. It also provided data about the planet’s interior, including information about its crust, mantle and core. The InSight lander operated actively on Mars for four years.

Studying the dust on Mars has been said to be very important. The dust present on Mars plays an important role in preparing its environment. Dust storms occur here which affect its weather patterns. Apart from this, the dust accumulated on the InSight lander suggests that due to its accumulation, the craters formed by the fall of meteorites and the footprints of spacecrafts landing on Mars may also be erased. This will help scientists understand how fast dust settles on an object here and how it can cover important signs.