NASA shuts down power generation for two weeks
Emergency measures such as shutting down seismometer operation
“If the sandstorm comes again, I don’t think my life will last long.”
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[아시아경제 김봉수 기자] A massive sandstorm blew up on Mars, putting the US Mars lander InSight on the verge of shutting down again. Still, as the sand that covered the solar panels thickened, reducing electricity production, NASA operators struggled to recover.
According to NASA on the 8th (local time), a continent-sized sandstorm began to blow in the southern hemisphere of Mars, where Insight is located, starting on the 21st of last month. At a distance of 3500 km from the Insight, it had little impact at first. However, when I checked again on the 3rd, it was confirmed that the height of the sand around Lake Insight had increased by 40% due to the effect of the sandstorm.
Storms on Mars have a thin atmosphere and are not as destructive as typhoons or hurricanes on Earth. However, winds of almost 100 km/h cause sand and dust to rise high in the atmosphere, which fall slowly, affecting large areas. In 2018, there was one storm that covered the entire planet Mars with sand dust.
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A sandstorm on Mars, photographed by NASA’s Mars Orbiter (MRO). Image source: NASA. |
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Above all, the thickness of the sand piled on InSight’s solar panels became thicker, causing a sudden drop in electricity production. Based on the day of Mars, it has almost halved from 425W to 275W per hour. The life expectancy of the seismic wave sensor, which was the only one in operation on the Insight, is also expected to be shortened sharply. NASA anticipates that the seismic wave detector will be shut down in the coming weeks if electricity production continues.
NASA has decided not to operate seismic wave detectors for the next two weeks in order to maximize the operational time of the Insight. Still, it was predicted that the solar panel’s lifespan would end between the end of this month and January next year due to power problems caused by dust accumulation. Fortunately, measurements from the Mars Orbiter (MRO) show signs of easing, with the sandstorm not getting any bigger.
Chuck Scott, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, “Now, the power level of the InSight has reached the bottom after the last one has disappeared. There,” he feared.
The Insight landed on Elysium Planitia near the equator of Mars on November 26, 2018. It was launched to explore the internal structure and composition of Mars, with a robotic arm for excavation and topography, a seismometer, a heat sensor, and an antenna for measuring rotational vibrations . It is stationed in one place without wheels and has been exploring the interior of Mars. However, the excavation equipment failed to dig the ground properly, so the target depth was not 3m, but only 6cm or more. NASA scientists reportedly did not attach sandblasting equipment to the solar panels because they initially anticipated that the plains of Elysium were not very windy.
By Kim Bong-soo, staff reporter bskim@asiae.co.kr
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