Done and dusted: NASA's Mars InSight probe now filthier than the grubbiest PC
(2022/02/10)
- Reference: 1644488107
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/10/dusty_insight/
- Source link:
Recent photos from NASA's Mars InSight lander demonstrate that even the Register readers' filthiest PCs cannot compare to the effects of Martian dust.
Although consequences of [1]poor PC hygiene can result in blocked fans, overheating silicon, and even the odd dried animal corpse, a build-up of dust on spacecraft solar panels can cause a permanent cessation of activity on the surface of the Red Planet.
Case in point – Mars InSight.
[2]
The lander went quiet in January as it dropped into safe mode during a dust storm which reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. It has since [3]clawed its way back to a semblance of normal operations as the storm settled but... well... just look at it.
Snapped by InSight's Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The above image was transmitted to Earth last weekend and, unless a passing dust devil clears away some of the grot, it appears the lander's days are numbered.
NASA's engineers remain optimistic and a spokesperson from JPL told The Register the team was assessing the effects of the latest dust dump and reckoned that the impact appeared small. However, "it can take many weeks for all of the dust to settle out of the atmosphere, and we won't know the full extent of the reduction in power for some time."
[4]NASA taps Lockheed Martin to build Mars parcel pickup rocket
[5]It's about time! NASA's orbital atomic clock a boon for deep space navigation – if they can get it working for long enough
[6]NASA pulls the plug on InSight's mole after Martian surface bests boffins
[7]Geomagnetic storm takes out 40 of 49 brand new Starlink satellites
[8]NASA's Curiosity finds signs of ancient life on Mars. Or maybe not. More data needed
InSight is on borrowed time. All its primary science objectives ( [9]excepting the unfortunate mole ) are complete, and the probe is on an extended mission, funded through December 2022.
Will it make it that far?
[10]
The spokesperson told us: "Within the next year, the team expects the power level to get low enough that science operations will come to a close."
During a recent presentation in a Mars Exploration Program Analysis Meeting, InSight principal investigator William Banerdt [11]warned energy levels could drop below that required to operate the lander's instruments in the May-June timeframe.
[12]
Another attempt to remove some of the dust by sprinkling sand on one of the arrays is planned for the coming days but barring a statistically unlikely natural cleaning event (like those experienced by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers) the dust accumulation will continue and operations will come to an end.
So if your PC is a [13]dusty horror , you don't have the excuse of it being millions of miles away for not giving it a jolly good cleaning. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/26/ventblockers_2/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://twitter.com/NASAInSight/status/1483854173451866114
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/mars_ascent_vehicle_contract_awarded/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/01/nasa_atomic_space_clock/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/15/insight_mole/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/starlink_satellites_burned_by_geomagnetic_storm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/19/nasa_curiosity_carbon/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/15/insight_mole/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://twitter.com/genejm29/status/1489326050446385159
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/Print/2009/11/13/ventblockers
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Although consequences of [1]poor PC hygiene can result in blocked fans, overheating silicon, and even the odd dried animal corpse, a build-up of dust on spacecraft solar panels can cause a permanent cessation of activity on the surface of the Red Planet.
Case in point – Mars InSight.
[2]
The lander went quiet in January as it dropped into safe mode during a dust storm which reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. It has since [3]clawed its way back to a semblance of normal operations as the storm settled but... well... just look at it.
Snapped by InSight's Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The above image was transmitted to Earth last weekend and, unless a passing dust devil clears away some of the grot, it appears the lander's days are numbered.
NASA's engineers remain optimistic and a spokesperson from JPL told The Register the team was assessing the effects of the latest dust dump and reckoned that the impact appeared small. However, "it can take many weeks for all of the dust to settle out of the atmosphere, and we won't know the full extent of the reduction in power for some time."
[4]NASA taps Lockheed Martin to build Mars parcel pickup rocket
[5]It's about time! NASA's orbital atomic clock a boon for deep space navigation – if they can get it working for long enough
[6]NASA pulls the plug on InSight's mole after Martian surface bests boffins
[7]Geomagnetic storm takes out 40 of 49 brand new Starlink satellites
[8]NASA's Curiosity finds signs of ancient life on Mars. Or maybe not. More data needed
InSight is on borrowed time. All its primary science objectives ( [9]excepting the unfortunate mole ) are complete, and the probe is on an extended mission, funded through December 2022.
Will it make it that far?
[10]
The spokesperson told us: "Within the next year, the team expects the power level to get low enough that science operations will come to a close."
During a recent presentation in a Mars Exploration Program Analysis Meeting, InSight principal investigator William Banerdt [11]warned energy levels could drop below that required to operate the lander's instruments in the May-June timeframe.
[12]
Another attempt to remove some of the dust by sprinkling sand on one of the arrays is planned for the coming days but barring a statistically unlikely natural cleaning event (like those experienced by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers) the dust accumulation will continue and operations will come to an end.
So if your PC is a [13]dusty horror , you don't have the excuse of it being millions of miles away for not giving it a jolly good cleaning. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/26/ventblockers_2/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://twitter.com/NASAInSight/status/1483854173451866114
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/mars_ascent_vehicle_contract_awarded/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/01/nasa_atomic_space_clock/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/15/insight_mole/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/09/starlink_satellites_burned_by_geomagnetic_storm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/19/nasa_curiosity_carbon/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/15/insight_mole/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://twitter.com/genejm29/status/1489326050446385159
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgTwW@HCkCYIAGL1bz48xgAAANY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/Print/2009/11/13/ventblockers
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Dwarf
As somebody else posted the other week on a similar topic, why can’t they use the quad copter that they have there to displace some of the dust ?
KarMann
Probably because it's over 3,000 km away right now? That would seem to be a bit of an obstacle.
ETA: Also, Ingenuity isn't a quadcopter; it has two sets of blades on a single shaft.
b0llchit
They did try a fan, once, but it turns out that the blades needed to spin really fast to blow a hole (in the dust). Alternatively, landing the drone on top of the lander's solar panels was determined too great a risk. It would have blown a mini-storm with a chance of rolling the lander on its side and no rain was expected to help.
It really is a shame the boffins couldn't work in a brush on a stick.
Not blaming them at all, I'm sure they thought of the problem.
It's just a shame they couldn't get one in.