NASA's InSight Mission Officially Over (nasa.gov) 17
"As a quick follow-up to yesterday's post about InSight's final photo, the InSight Lander's mission is now officially over after 2 failed communications attempts," writes Slashdot reader davidwr. From a NASA press release: NASA's InSight mission has ended after more than four years of collecting unique science on Mars. Mission controllers at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California were unable to contact the lander after two consecutive attempts, leading them to conclude the spacecraft's solar-powered batteries have run out of energy -- a state engineers refer to as "dead bus."
"I watched the launch and landing of this mission, and while saying goodbye to a spacecraft is always sad, the fascinating science InSight conducted is cause for celebration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The seismic data alone from this Discovery Program mission offers tremendous insights not just into Mars but other rocky bodies, including Earth." You can read more about the InSight Mars Lander at NASA's website.
"I watched the launch and landing of this mission, and while saying goodbye to a spacecraft is always sad, the fascinating science InSight conducted is cause for celebration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The seismic data alone from this Discovery Program mission offers tremendous insights not just into Mars but other rocky bodies, including Earth." You can read more about the InSight Mars Lander at NASA's website.
Why can't they clean the panels? (Score:2)
You would think they would implement some sort of mechanism to sweep the panels once in a while. Why wouldn't they? Seems to me to be somewhat trivial and could extend missions for several years...
Test 1st! -- Amateur listeners? (Score:2)
There were giant arguments about panel wipers/cleaners on Slashdot a few days ago. My view is you have to test it first on Mars, because the mechanism may smudge it and make it worse. Almost every experiment involving dirt or dust has found oddities.
Now that I got my wiper 2-cents out of the way, I wonder if amateur radio astronomers can listen for a signal from the probe if it wakes up? What kind of equipment is necessary to test the mere existence of a signal?
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Well, fellow 5-digit Slashdot ID, I would say that radio astronomy probably won't work because the probes we have there are actually communicating with satellites in orbit around Mars which then relay back to Earth. Amateur equipment won't be able to pick up that kind of signal - too weak.
Solar-panel "windshield wipers" (Score:2)
To all "windshield wiper" requests (Score:5, Informative)
Mars dust has electrostatic properties, and will stick onto surfaces.
https://iopscience.iop.org/art... [iop.org]
Yes, NASA has been notified of this problem. Sure, they read slashdot, too. Okay, joking aside, they have been working on this for more than a decade, with no better option than: let the next storm clean up the dust on its own. Ironically, this has saved rovers several times in the past.
Again, the dust is sticky. And the "wiper" will just scrape the solar panels, exactly like a "sandpaper".
That is worse than the alternative.
(also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org])
Re: (Score:2)
-Is it really a stupid idea if it works?
Re: To all "windshield wiper" requests (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not a stupid idea, just one which wouldn't work. You're relying on either gravity, drag or centrifugal force to dislodge the dust, all of those are far weaker than static forces.
Gravity isn't enough, centrifugal force relies on mass which dust particles have very little of, and so you're left with drag at which point a small jet of air may be a better option.
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It would be cool if it phoned home in 10 years or something though.
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That is why we need to get data. Go there. See what happens. Fail strategically
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Notably, Mars is no longer an unknown novel environment.
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If they had a sample I bet they could develop a coating that stops it sticking.
Future storms... (Score:2)
... Let's hope the future storms can clean the dusts to resume this mission!
Re: To all "windshield wiper" requests (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good Night Oppy (Score:3)
I watched the documentary Good Night Oppy (about the Mars rover Opportunity) on Amazon Prime with my son recently. It gave a good overview of the sand messing things up issues that seemed now to have also claimed InSight.