Why is saying goodbye to a robot that is located around 140 million miles away from you so upsetting? It’s always painful to part with a buddy. Even when it makes no logic, it still hurts. InSight Rover, a robot from NASA, landed on Mars in 2018 and has already been there for 1,445 “Sols,” or the Martian equivalent of a day. The robot did a lot of great things while on Mars, but now that it’s slowly approaching the end of its life, its final message is rather depressing.
InSight Rover Has Low Battery
The Interior Exploration utilizing Seismic Investigation, Geodesy, and Heat Transport project, also known as NASA InSight Rover, was intended to continue for two years. The robot quickly got to work after departing from Earth in May of 2018 and returning in November of the same year. Its primary function is to analyze the information that its integrated seismometer provides.
Additionally, it carries a heat probe (HP3) that it uses to gauge the planet’s internal heat flow and gain some understanding of how the planet formed. The nicest feature about it for most space fans is that it also has a built-in camera, which it uses to send photographs back to Earth frequently to let us know where it is and what Mars looks like. On NASA’s official InSight Rover mission page, you can see thousands of such images.
The robot’s mission, which was only intended to endure for 709 Sols, has more than been accomplished (728 days). Due to its solar panel setup, it was able to operate much longer than anticipated and has been doing an excellent job operating over time. Sadly, it appears that InSight Rover has little energy left to continue.
