Mars. That planet that captures the attention and curiosity of the entire scientific community. With its lands of that particular coppery tone, that vast desert where the winds carry a dust so fine that it coats everything it touches. There, right there between dune and dune, is where NASA’s InSight lander rests in silence, alone, covered by a thick layer of dust.
And it’s not that we didn’t know it was there, it’s just that now, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which works to find evidence of past water on the planet, has captured this solitary module exactly where it landed years ago.
NASA’s profile on X (formerly Twitter) was filled with responses after publishing the header photo of this article and asking, “Can you spot @NASAInSight?”
What is the MRO?
It is a NASA spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2006, capturing high-resolution images of the planet while mapping its surface and searching for the best landing sites for future missions.
Additionally, it also serves as a communication relay between Earth and other spacecraft exploring the Martian surface, such as Perseverance and Curiosity.
This exploration is what has spotted InSight from afar in the vast red desert.
What was the InSight Lander?
Unlike other rovers, such as Perseverance and Curiosity, which were designed to move and explore, InSight was a stationary lander meant to study the planet’s interior and how its surface behaves.
During its mission, it detected more than 1,300 “marsquakes” (Martian earthquakes), proving that Mars still has geological activity. It provided crucial data about the planet’s core, mantle, and crust, and recorded daily weather changes.
Why did it stop working?
This module did not use nuclear power like many others but instead relied on solar energy, depending entirely on its surface-mounted solar panels.
As expected, over time and after multiple dust storms, its ability to generate energy gradually declined until the lander stopped sending information to Earth in 2022.
From the MRO, it has been confirmed that the module remains intact where it was four years ago, only now completely covered in dust.
What do we know thanks to InSight?
First, that Mars is a complete challenge for any type of technology. It is an extreme and difficult-to-explore place where human-made equipment has a very limited lifespan.
Next, that the dust on Mars is a significant issue, something that might need to be addressed in the future. (Imagine sending “cleaning” modules so that these rovers can continue their work.)
Most importantly, it has provided a wealth of information for future manned missions to Mars.
Perhaps in the future, a space museum on Mars could display the remains of past robotic missions, as there are other robotic missions.
Other relics on Mars
InSight is not the only abandoned module on Mars. Several missions have also been left behind, making it something like a graveyard of robotic explorers.
- The Opportunity Rover (2018): This rover stopped communicating after working for NASA for 15 years. Its last message, after a massive dust storm, moved the entire space community: “My battery is running low, and it’s getting dark.” So cute.
- The Ingenuity Helicopter (2024): This helicopter was rendered inoperable after 72 successful flights, becoming the first aircraft to fly on another planet.
The image of InSight on Mars, covered in dust and alone, is more than just a photograph, it is a reminder that, in the future, humans may one day clean InSight’s solar panels themselves.
Our ambition is unstoppable!