NASA's Mars lander is in emergency hibernation — and it could die | TheHill - The Hill
NASA’s InSight needs to charge its batteries or it will die in space.NASA's InSight Mars lander has to conserve its batteries, otherwise it will die on Mars.However, Mars’s unpredictable weather — recently a lack of wind where InSight resides — are threatening the lander’s lifespan.
Powerful gusts of wind, known as “cleaning events†are needed to blow Martian dust off InSight’s solar panels, Business Insider reports. But these winds have not been sweeping Elysium Planitia, where Insight is, and a thick layer of dust has accumulated on the lander and it cannot charge properly, Yahoo News reported."As part of our extended-mission planning, we developed an operations strategy to keep InSight safe through the winter so that we can resume science operations as solar intensity increases," he continued.