5 min read<\/p>\n
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"NASA\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-hirise-spots-insight-in-october-2024-jpg-2024-12-12-at-4-53-40%E2%80%AFpm.png?w=2048\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nSeen at the center of this image, NASA\u2019s retired InSight Mars lander was captured by the agency\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imagine Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Oct. 23, 2024.<\/div>\nNASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of Arizona<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNew images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time \u2014 information that can help scientists learn more about the Red Planet.<\/em><\/p>\nNASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency\u2019s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft\u2019s solar panels. In the new image taken Oct. 23 by MRO\u2019s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight\u2019s solar panels have acquired the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.<\/p>\n
After touching down in November 2018, the lander was the first to detect the Red Planet\u2019s marsquakes,<\/a> revealing details of the crust, mantle, and core in the process. Over the four years that the spacecraft collected science, engineers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the mission, used images from InSight<\/a>\u2019s cameras and MRO<\/a>\u2019s HiRISE<\/a> to estimate how much dust was settling on the stationary lander\u2019s solar panels, since dust affected its ability to generate power.<\/p>\nNASA retired InSight in December 2022, after the lander ran out of power and stopped communicating with Earth during its extended mission<\/a>. But engineers continued listening for radio signals from the lander in case wind cleared enough dust from the spacecraft\u2019s solar panels for its batteries to recharge. Having detected no changes over the past two years, NASA will stop listening for InSight at the end of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"NASA\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-hirise-spots-insight-in-october-2024-jpg-2024-12-12-at-4-53-40%E2%80%AFpm.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>New images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time \u2014 information that can help scientists learn more about the Red Planet.<\/em><\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) caught a glimpse of the agency\u2019s retired InSight lander recently, documenting the accumulation of dust on the spacecraft\u2019s solar panels. In the new image taken Oct. 23 by MRO\u2019s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, InSight\u2019s solar panels have acquired the same reddish-brown hue as the rest of the planet.<\/p>\n After touching down in November 2018, the lander was the first to detect the Red Planet\u2019s marsquakes,<\/a> revealing details of the crust, mantle, and core in the process. Over the four years that the spacecraft collected science, engineers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the mission, used images from InSight<\/a>\u2019s cameras and MRO<\/a>\u2019s HiRISE<\/a> to estimate how much dust was settling on the stationary lander\u2019s solar panels, since dust affected its ability to generate power.<\/p>\n NASA retired InSight in December 2022, after the lander ran out of power and stopped communicating with Earth during its extended mission<\/a>. But engineers continued listening for radio signals from the lander in case wind cleared enough dust from the spacecraft\u2019s solar panels for its batteries to recharge. Having detected no changes over the past two years, NASA will stop listening for InSight at the end of this year.<\/p>\n