NASA's Mars Insight lander might go out of power before end of 2022: NASA scientist

NASA's Insight lander, which was recovered from safe mode after enduring a dust storm on Mars, is likely to go out of power in 2022. reason for its potential 'death' is being attributed to accumulation of dust on lander's solar panels which is reducing power supply required for operations. lander, which touched down on red planet in 2018, entered safe mode in early January and was restored to rmal operations on January 20. 

Power supply might dip below required amount by May-June

Martian dust has always been a cause of concern for robots that are exploring red planet, t to forget NASA's Opportunity rover which was longer operational owing to a dust storm that occurred in 2018. Raising same concern, Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator for InSight mission, has predicted that Insight's power levels might soon dip below levels required to keep it working. 

"Our current projections indicate that energy will drop below that required to operate payload in May-June time frame and probably below survivability some time near end of year", Banerdt said as per News. Before that time comes, NASA scientists are using various techniques to shake off dust grains sitting over solar arrays. Banerdt said that techniques have helped m raise power output by 1-3%, although he warned that Mars lander won't be working for more than a year from w. 

Talking about dust storm in  Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) meeting last week, Banerdt had said that scientists were unable to prepare for  power-blocking storm. NASA uses  Mars Color Imr (MARCI) camera fitted on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that is hovering in Mars' orbit. With this camera, scientists are able to create coloured maps of entire planet every day, which can be used to monitor dust storms and issue early warnings.

Im: Twitter/@NASA