Sky News: 'My power is really low': NASA set to lose contact with Mars InSight spacecraft after four years

TL;DR

'My power is really low': NASA set to lose contact with Mars InSight spacecraft after four yearsThick windblown dust has covered InSight's solar panels, with NASA expecting to officially lose contact with the spacecraft soon.A combination of a heatshield, parachute and retrorockets helped slow InSight from 13,000mph to 5mph in just six minutes to allow it to land on the Elysium Planitia, a featureless plain just north of the location of the Curiosity rover.Read moreNASA's Orion spacecraft splashes back down to Earth after successful moon missionAstronauts will be 'living and working on the moon' within a decade, says NASANASA's Orion spacecraft splashes back down to Earth after successful moon missionAstronauts will be 'living and working on the moon' within a decade, says NASAFive months after landing, InSight's quake monitor recorded a faint rumbling.Knowing exactly what caused the tremor and where and when, they were able to fine-tune their previous measurements in a way they hadn’t been able to by just listening to mysterious rumbles from inside Mars.It is actually only in the last few months that we’ve got enough information to really build up quite a complex view of what is happening inside of Mars - and we’re going to keep on working on this data.”There’s a chance – albeit a slim one – a storm could blow the dust off InSight’s solar panels and give it a new lease of battery life."

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