The InSight Mission to Mars Master Thread

[Rondaz]

InSight sacrifices crash protection to keep Martian seismograph running..

19:20 25 June 2022

The team of the automatic Mars station InSight decided to extend the life of the SEIS seismograph until the end of August or the beginning of September of this year. To do this, engineers will turn off the device’s failure protection system, thanks to which it will be able to save electricity, but at any time it can fail without the possibility of repair, according to the NASA website.

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) has been operating on Mars for more than three and a half years, although it was originally estimated to have a lifespan of just over a year. The station is engaged in geophysical research of Mars and has registered more than 1300 marsquakes to date. It is supplied with electricity by two large solar panels, on which dust constantly accumulates. The researchers hoped that dust devils or gusts of wind would be able to clean the batteries, but this did not happen , and attempts to manually remove dust from the batteries turned out to be ineffective.

As a result, the electric power generated by the batteries fell 10 times, which initially led to a reduction in the possible life of the station until the end of December this year. Then NASA decided to end the science program ahead of schedule by the fall, as the level of available power is also falling due to the onset of the Martian winter. Currently, all scientific instruments, except for the SEIS seismograph, have already been turned off, and the robotic arm has been put into rest mode to save energy.

Initially, NASA planned that SEIS would be turned off at the end of June, but now engineers have decided to take a risky step to obtain the largest possible amount of scientific data on the seismic activity of the Red Planet. SEIS will now operate until the end of August or early September, and in order for it to have enough power, the station team will turn off the fail-safe system, which automatically puts the device into a safe mode in case of failures or adverse weather conditions. Thus, in case of possible accidents, engineers will not have time to respond to them and InSight can fail at any time.

InSight has made many scientific discoveries, in particular, it has helped to determine the main boundaries between the layers of Mars, draw up a detailed diagram of the subsurface layers, estimate the size of the Red Planet's core, and  identify the seasonality of marsquakes. You can find out how scientists fought with the Red Planet for the life of one of the scientific instruments of the station in the material "45 centimeters in 50 years" .

Alexander Voytyuk

https://nplus1.ru/news/2022/06/25/insight-work-harder

[redliox]

With Insight in it's waning days, has there been any thoughts on a successor, specific to Mars?

[deadman1204]

With Insight in it's waning days, has there been any thoughts on a successor, specific to Mars?

Insight was a competed discovery mission. A successor would likely need to win in the next discovery mission selection.

[vjkane]

With Insight in it's waning days, has there been any thoughts on a successor, specific to Mars?

The low cost Mars mission workshop last January had a number of drone and helicopter concepts for science missions.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lowcostmars2022/pdf/lowcostmars2022_program.htm

[Don2]

With Insight in it's waning days, has there been any thoughts on a successor, specific to Mars?

The low cost Mars mission workshop last January had a number of drone and helicopter concepts for science missions.

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lowcostmars2022/pdf/lowcostmars2022_program.htm

In particular, there is a concept for a network of penetrators to investigate the seismic activity around Cerberus Fossae, which appears to be the most seismically active region of Mars. They propose sending 6 penetrators in order to establish a network of at least 4 stations.

The authors speculate that Cerberus Fossae may have erupted in the past 10 million years and that that eruption produced flowing water on the surface.

The authors complain about the lack of power options, stating that this has been a problem for small penetrators. They propose to use rugged solar panels. In my opinion, NASA has overlooked the potential value of developing small RTGs, which could enable many small missions.

"A CERBERUS FOSSAE SEISMIC NETWORK"
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lowcostmars2022/pdf/5024.pdf

[Rondaz]

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 9, 2022

Naomi Hartono Posted on July 13, 2022

On July 9, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 399 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at 1.02 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2022/07/13/nasa-insights-power-level-as-of-july-9-2022/

[Sam Ho]

A few more power readings from the InSight team:

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 24, 2022
On July 16, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 408 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .94 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 20, 2022
On July 16, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 385-400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .99 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 9, 2022
On July 9, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 399 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at 1.02 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 2, 2022
On July 2, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at 1.02 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of June 19, 2022
More information about InSight’s power level will be available here in the weeks ahead. On June 19, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 410 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at 1.12 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/

[Rondaz]

NASA InSight’s Power Level as of July 31, 2022

Naomi Hartono Posted on August 2, 2022

On July 31, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .91 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2022/08/02/nasa-insights-power-level-as-of-july-31-2022/

[AstroWare]

In case anyone else was curious, the Winter solstice was Jul 21 2022.