[HN Gopher] InSight's Final Selfie
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InSight's Final Selfie
Author : lelf
Score : 33 points
Date : 2022-05-25 20:32 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.jpl.nasa.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.jpl.nasa.gov)
| jonah wrote:
| Maybe on the next rover, they can include a brush or blower on
| the arm so they can dust off the solar panels occasionally.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| InSight is a non-mobile ground station, not a rover.
|
| The rovers can position themselves such that wind removes dust.
| mortenlarsen wrote:
| So it only needed a "turn-table" base?
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| I'm sure it's not that simple, but I suspect that it simply
| isn't worth it to launch extra mass to Mars. InSight was
| successful in its mission, I don't know what value would be
| gained from extending its life further.
| Aperocky wrote:
| wondering if rotating solar panel works. just rotate 180
| degrees to dump sand to the ground and then back.
| potiuper wrote:
| The sweeper arm idea is better for panels on Earth due to
| humidity: https://news.mit.edu/2022/solar-panels-dust-
| magnets-0311 Electrostatic based solutions using a layer called
| an electrodynamic screen that was introduced in the early 1970s
| using interdigitated electrodes has potential for moistureless
| environments like Mars. But, the development cost for ad hoc
| Mars application is a high barrier.
| ffhhj wrote:
| Maybe a series of thin plastic layers that can be pulled
| inside a container every few months, sort of a carpet-
| umbrella.
| pavon wrote:
| Eventually we'll have equipment on Mars that we want to
| function for a long duration, and we'll need to solve that
| problem, but for InSight (and others) death by dust was by
| design.
|
| It costs money to operate these probes with a whole staff here
| on earth monitoring, commanding and analyzing the data that we
| receive. After some time you get diminishing returns on how
| much you can learn from the same probe, and would be better off
| paying these people to work on a new probe (improved using what
| you have learned) or even an identical probe, deployed
| elsewhere on the planet.
|
| When these missions are designed that is taken into
| consideration to determine the desired lifespan of the mission,
| and the probe is designed to that lifespan (with some margin).
| Spending money (or worse mass) to make a component survive well
| beyond that lifespan would be a waste, and could cut into the
| (fiscal or mass) budget resulting in tradeoffs that make the
| probe less capable during the lifespan it has.
|
| Insight was designed to operate for at least two years with
| margin. It has hit the limits of that margin after four years
| and it's time to shut it down.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| Because the linked article doesn't explain, here's the Wikipedia
| blurb about what InSight is/was:
|
| The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy
| and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is a robotic lander designed
| to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. It was
| manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, is managed by
| NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and most of its
| scientific instruments were built by European agencies. The
| mission launched on 5 May 2018 at 11:05:01 UTC aboard an Atlas
| V-401 launch vehicle and successfully landed at Elysium Planitia
| on Mars on 26 November 2018 at 19:52:59 UTC. InSight traveled
| 483x106 km (300x106 mi) during its journey. As of 25 May 2022,
| InSight has been active on Mars for 1242 sols (1276 days; 3
| years, 180 days).
|
| InSight's objectives are to place a seismometer, called Seismic
| Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), on the surface of Mars
| to measure seismic activity and provide accurate 3D models of the
| planet's interior; and measure internal heat transfer using a
| heat probe called HP3 to study Mars' early geological evolution.
| This could bring a new understanding of how the Solar System's
| terrestrial planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars - and Earth's
| Moon form and evolve.
|
| The lander was originally planned for launch in March 2016. An
| instrument problem delayed the launch beyond the 2016 launch
| window. NASA officials rescheduled the InSight launch to May 2018
| and during the wait the instrument was repaired. This increased
| the total cost from US$675 million to US$830 million. NASA stated
| that due to excessive dust on its solar panels preventing it from
| recharging, they plan to put InSight in low-power mode for
| detecting seisemic events in July 2022 and continue monitoring
| the lander through the operational period ending in December
| 2022.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InSight
| gfodor wrote:
| I have no recollection of this lander. Strange.
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