After four years of listening for martian earthquakes, NASA's InSight mission is destroyed.
The fixed lander's solar panels were covered in Martian dust, which caused it to lose power after four years of producing significant findings about the red planet's interior.
The Mars InSight mission of NASA has ended.
Mission management has been anticipating this for months since dust buildup on the lander's solar panels has prevented the stationary spacecraft from receiving the sunlight it needs to generate power.
The most recent communication came from InSight on December 15; the spacecraft was sent to Mars more than four years ago to measure the planet's seismic activity. However, after two failed efforts at communication, NASA said on Wednesday that it was unlikely to ever hear from InSight again.
Bruce Banerdt, the mission's lead investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in an interview, "I feel sad, but I also feel very wonderful." "We've been anticipating the end of this for a while." He added.
