NASA’s Mars Orbiter
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter goes around the planet to see if it can document any past evidence of water.
Source: Mathew.vargheese/Wikimedia Commons
This orbiter has also been designed to see how the planet changes over time. To observe Mars’ terrain and surface accurately, the orbiter has an incredibly powerful camera attached to it.
NASA Sees Old Lander
During the orbiter’s reconnaissance mission, it spotted an old, dead robot on the planet’s surface. After taking this photo, NASA shared an image of the dead robot on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
This dead robot is NASA’s old InSight lander, which is now defunct. In the image NASA posted online, you can see the lander, as well as its landing site.
A Defunct InSight Lander
This lander was spotted by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Now, we can see how this dead robot remains on Mars.
Source: NASA/Public Domain
“Can you spot @NASAInSight?” NASA wrote on X. “The retired lander was recently spotted by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. By studying InSight’s landing site over time, scientists can see how quickly dust accumulates, which helps estimate the age of other surface disturbances.”
Mars Dust
According to NASA, these photos of the InSight lander help them understand how dust from the planet can quickly blanket objects such as this space object.
Source: Kevin Gill/Wikimedia Commons
In these photos, you can see exactly this. It appears the spacecraft has been blanketed in Mars dust already, as has the landing site surrounding the object.
About the InSight Lander
The InSight lander isn’t necessarily that old. After taking off from Earth, the lander headed to Mars, where it investigated different kinds of geologic activity on the planet for four years.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
During this time, the lander was able to measure 1,300 different marsquakes. One of these quakes included what NASA called a “monster” temblor.
An Active Mars
Thanks to InSight, NASA scientists were able to officially realize that Mars isn’t geologically dead as many assumed it was.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
Instead, the planet remains quite active. This discovery has helped researchers better understand the planet that remains a mystery to many.
A Helpful Mission
InSight also related back daily weather reports to NASA headquarters. The lander also analyzed the planet’s core.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
All in all, the robot’s mission was deemed helpful and a success by many. InSight’s mission officially ended in December of 2022 after providing much-needed information to scientists on Earth.
A Solar Powered Robot
However, InSight wasn’t able to return to Earth after its four years of productive service to NASA. While some of NASA’s rovers — most notably Curiosity and Perseverance — are nuclear-powered, InSight wasn’t.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
Instead, the robot was powered by solar energy. Dust on Mars helped to reduce the power InSight had, as its solar panels ended up quickly covered by it. This led to the robot’s batteries eventually dying out.
InSight Isn’t Alone
This dead robot isn’t alone on Mars, though. Many other past Mars explorers and landers are scattered around the planet, left behind.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
The Phoenix lander also remains on Mars, as does the Ingenuity helicopter and the Opportunity rover. NASA has also seen items from their space objects, such as parachutes and different kinds of landing gear, left behind on the planet, as well.
The Search for Life on Mars
NASA’s spotting of InSight comes as scientists continue to look for signs of life — especially past life — on the planet’s surface.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is tasked with trying to uncover past signs of water on the planet’s surface. NASA has stated that Mars once was full of water billions of years ago, which could have also contained microbial life.
Sending Humans to Mars
Eventually, NASA also wants to try to send humans to Mars for the first time in history. Though organizations have been trying to complete this quest since at least the 1950s, modern technology could potentially make it happen.
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk has also publicly stated that he wants to send people to Mars. Musk even wants to establish a colony on the planet.