Mars InSight lander officially retires, ending a four-year mission

Mars InSight lander, the first robotic probe aimed at studying the deep interior of a distant world, has been retired four years after it touched down on the surface of the red planet, NASA announced on Wednesday. Just a few days back, the space agency had said that the dust on Mars is choking the rover's power system and it is likely to bid adieu soon.

Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles concluded that the mission had ended when two consecutive attempts to re-establish radio contact with the lander failed. This signalled that InSight's solar-powered batteries had run out of energy.

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NASA had predicted that the rover's mission is likely to come to an end in few weeks since dust was accumulating on its solar panels, making it tough for it to recharge its batteries.

JPL engineers will be monitoring the lander just in case it sends a signal, which doesn't seem likely at this stage. The three-legged stationary probe last communicated with Earth on December 15.

The lander had first touched down on the expanse of Elysium Planitia in November 2018. It is equipped with a quake monitor using which it has conducted geologic excavations and measured marsquakes. In fact, establishing that the red planet is, indeed, seismically active, was one of the rover's biggest achievements. It recorded more than 1,300 quakes on the red planet. One such impact a year ago gouged boulder-sized chunks of water ice surprisingly close to Mars' equator.

"The seismic data alone from this discovery program mission offers tremendous insights not just into Mars but other rocky bodies, including Earth," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's science mission directorate.

The lander has revealed details about the planet's interior layers, its liquid core, thickness of the planet's outer crust and the structure of the mantle that lies in between. Originally, it was supposed to conduct a two-year mission, but it was later extended to four.

Meanwhile, Perseverance, another rover on the red planet sent recently, continues to prepare a collection of Martian mineral samples for future analysis on Earth.

(With inputs from agencies)

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