How NASA Will Keep The InSight Mars Lander Working Until The Very End

NASA's InSight lander has been on Mars since 2018, collecting data on the marsquakes that shake the planet. The mission will soon come to an end, although the experts in charge of the lander plan to keep the hardware running for as long as they possibly can in the tough Martian environment. The original plan had been to shut down InSight's main instrument, its seismometer, by the end of June 2022. But now, the team will eke out the last remaining power to keep the seismometer running until August or possibly early September 2022 (via JPL).

This decision represents a balancing act because keeping the instrument running for a longer duration means the lander's overall power will run out faster. But, as the main instrument, the seismometer is an important scientific tool and by keeping it running, the lander may be able to detect another marsquake. The team has decided to prioritize the science, as InSight project manager Chuck Scott explained: "The goal is to get scientific data all the way to the point where InSight can't operate at all, rather than conserve energy and operate the lander with no science benefit."

So far the lander has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes, and the hope is that leaving the seismometer running will give the best chance of picking up more data before the mission comes to its inevitable end. "InSight hasn't finished teaching us about Mars yet," said the director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, Lori Glaze. "We're going to get every last bit of science we can before the lander concludes operations."