NASA’s Mars InSight lander died a slow death to dust last week. For months and months, a robot built to study tectonic activity on the Red Planet has been running on minimal power as its 25-square-foot (4.2-square-meter) solar power array slowly sinks under a thick blanket of dust. Disappeared , On Wednesday (Dec. 21), NASA announced that it had not heard from the lander for several days, officially declaring the mission dead.
insightwhich which Elysium landed flat in Planicia Basin, appears to be unharmedSouth of Mars planetEquator in November 2018, extending its expected mission duration by more than two years. Still, many asked whether anything could be done to save the perfectly healthy robot, which was providing important science about robots. inner life of mars,
related: NASA’s Mars InSight lander ends mission after losing power
cost vs benefit
in twitter thread (opens in new tab)Posted about six weeks before InSight’s final demise, NASA explained the trade-offs engineers faced when designing a mission to notoriously dusty Mars.
NASA wrote on the lander’s Twitter account, “People often ask: Do I (wipers, blowers, etc.) have no way to clean myself? It’s a fair question and has a short answer.” “Such a system adds cost, mass, and complexity. The simplest, most cost-effective way to meet my goals was to have solar panels large enough to power my entire mission—which they did (and then Some!) “
dust storm weather
Space agencies usually try to avoid the planet when sending a lander to Mars dust storm weather, which occurs during the northern autumn and winter periods of Mars. a year on Mars since about two lives Earth Over the years, most recent landers and rovers, including InSight, made it through several dust storm seasons. curiosity rover, now in its 11th year at Mars and still going strong, has seen a few dust storm seasons. rover too measured (opens in new tab) The varying amounts of dust accumulated on its sensors and decks reveal how seasonal winds and dust devils help the rovers last longer. Transparent as it is, InSight was unlucky when it came to Mars’ natural cleanup aid.
No Dust Devil Car Wash
Dust devils have been seen cleaning NASA’s older generation Mars rovers, soul (opens in new tab) And Occasion, Opportunity, notably, was able to continue its mission for more than 14 years, exceeding its designed three-month lifetime by dozens of times. regular dust devil broom And wind-driven cleanup events played a key role in that record-breaking mission. Finally, a Dust storm in 2019 finally overpowers tiny roverEnding its record-breaking journey of discovery.
According to Mike Williams, chief engineer at Airbus Defense and Space, which is currently rethinking the approach to dust protection European ExoMars Rosalind Franklin RoverIt appears that InSight was in a “particularly unfavorable position for dust removal”.
inclined solar panels
Williams agrees that NASA’s approach to external solar panels is the best, safest and cheapest when it comes to dust-proofing a Mars exploration spacecraft. However, Airbus is currently looking into the possibility of adding a dedicated dust defense capability, and they have plenty of time to do so. The mission, built in collaboration with Russia, was suspended in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The planned September launch was cancelled, and Airbus is now keeping the ExoMars rover in a clean room as some key components originally made by Russia have to be replaced.
“Sizing the arrays to be able to manage the reduced amount of sunlight reaching them because of the dust is the best and simplest solution,” Williams told Space.com. “It’s the lowest level of complexity. It requires the least number of subsystems and functions and therefore carries the lowest risk. From a mission design point of view, it’s certainly the best way to go about it.” There’s a better way.”
Williams said that when the ExoMars mission was first conceived, engineers considered a plethora of dust cleaning techniques, including brushes, wipers, gas blowers and electrostatic wipers, to get rid of the dust. At that point, they decided that the rover, whose nominal mission at Oxia Planum was designed to last only 180 Martian days, or sols, didn’t need self-cleaning. With the new launch date now expected no earlier than 2028, they are re-thinking their approach.
“With ExoMars now being reborn, we are potentially restoring some of that capability,” Williams said. “We could possibly use something like solar panel tilting to remove some of that dust. It would also help point the panels at the Sun more efficiently, which could have some benefits as well.”
Williams said that Airbus engineers, like those at NASA, will have to come to terms with the fact that ExoMars, like other spacecraft on Mars, may eventually fall prey to dust, and will not be disappointed if the rover exceeds its designed mission lifetime. ends marginally. However, like Spirit and Opportunity, they are also expected to get some help from Mars’ weather.
“It’s just, it’s the way to go with space missions, unfortunately,” Williams said.
Insight’s self-cleaning effort
Even though InSight was not designed to remove dust by itself, NASA made some last-ditch efforts in the final months of its life to help the lander remove some dust, as the amount of power generated by its panels decreased.
In May, ground controllers ordered InSight’s robotic arm to sprinkle sand on one of the lander’s dust-covered panels. As the wind blew the grains of sand across the panel, they actually picked up some dust along the way, reducing the thickness of the dust blanket that obstructed the sunlight.
The operation enabled the lander to receive about 30 watt-hours of energy per sol at that time, according to NASA. Statement (opens in new tab),
In the end nature won. As in all the time. And Insight certainly didn’t go down without a fight.
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