Space oddity: NASA’s so-called ‘dead’ Mars robot is still providing data.

NASA’s InSight lander may be retired on Mars, but it continues to provide valuable information to the space agency.

The lander began its mission on November 26, 2018, with the goal of gathering data about Mars’ structure, seismic activity, and meteorite frequency. It sent its final image and ran out of power in December 2022, leading news outlets like The New York Times and The Independent to report its “death.”

Recently, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter checked on its retired colleague and sent back an image of the InSight lander on the Martian surface. Even though the lander can no longer send images, its presence on the red planet continues to yield insights.

“By studying InSight’s landing site over time, scientists can see how quickly dust accumulates, which helps estimate the age of other surface disturbances,” NASA explained in a May 6 post on its NASA Mars account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Journey of NASA’s InSight Lander

InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport, launched in May 2018 and traveled about 300 million miles over 6½ months to reach Mars.

The lander featured a robotic arm with a built-in camera, which it used to deploy a heat probe and seismometer for data collection. During its mission, it captured meteorite impacts and over 1,300 marsquakes, according to California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

As the mission progressed, dust accumulated on its solar panels, eventually causing the robot to lose power. Nevertheless, InSight exceeded its original mission timeline by two Earth years, as reported by Space.com.

Before losing power, NASA shared a farewell message from InSight on social media: “My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me.”

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has lasted more than twice its expected lifespan since launching in 2005, continues to take high-resolution images, including those of InSight. This helps ensure that InSight’s contributions remain significant.

“InSight has more than lived up to its name,” said JPL director Laurie Leshin at the time of its retirement. “Yes, it’s sad to say goodbye, but InSight’s legacy will live on, informing and inspiring.”