InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 Options

[stevesliva]

This link goes to a presentation by Bruce Banerdt to MEPAG in September:

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meeting/2021-09/...EPAG%20VM13.pdf


Check out especially slides 12 and 13 (text and a graph of the power budget). We just squeaked through the cold period around aphelion and now power is increasing again, but without a cleaning event the mission team project "... energy dropping below operational minimums in the May June timeframe." In other words it looks like we may lose the mission in 8 months if things progress as expected.

It's interesting that the prior big power drop ~sol 550 presaged the sol 560-720 period where there was almost no useful seismic data gathered. That implies that there might be a drop ~ sol1220, and a bad-data period from 1220-1380? Whatever time of year sol 550 was and sol 1220 will be***... I think the hopeful outlook is that we'll get more good data until then, and all bets are off after that.

*** It's interesting that whatever caused that noisy period was one season, not two???

This seismometer is a really exceptional instrument.

[PaulH51]

Seismic constraints from a Mars impact experiment using InSight and Perseverance link

Associated Tweet from Ben Fernando link

[PaulH51]

IDC Sol 1047: A glimpse of one of the arrays and the distant horizon

[Phil Stooke]

Note the nice clear view of a distant hill at left on the horizon. We did see it early in the mission but less clearly.

I was recently told that there are two small gaps in the full mission stereoscopic panorama, which is why it has not been released yet. There is a full horizon panorama and a full workspace mosaic, but when you try to combine them there is a bit of a gap (I expect it's east of the HP3 but not certain.). Possibly we are seeing the beginning of an effort to fill the gap.

Phil

[Fox]

The InSight weather page hasn't updated for some time now, presumably because of the power issues? https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/ But I'm wondering if the wind speed and temperature devices are still used occasionally? Or are they off all of the time right now? Thanks.

[Phil Stooke]

I think only SEIS is on at present. I don't know if anything else will come back on soon.

EDIT: This is from the InSight presentation at the last MEPAG meeting:
----------------
The seismometer is operating around the clock on sols that do not have special activities, and will continue to do so through conjunction. All other sensors have been turned off.

We expect to be able to return to partial operation of atmospheric and magnetic sensors after conjunction.

Dust accumulation on the solar arrays has been considerable (~80% obscuration), and is continuing. This is in line with predictions.

InSight has not experienced any natural cleaning events. This is not in line with expectations.

We have passed the minimum insolation/temperature point for this year,and anticipate slightly increasing energy for the next few months.

Our current projections indicate energy dropping below operational minimums in the May June timeframe.
----------------

Phil

[Tom Tamlyn]

Dust accumulation on the solar arrays has been considerable (~80% obscuration), and is continuing. This is in line with predictions.

InSight has not experienced any natural cleaning events. This is not in line with expectations.

Ever since I read Phil's post, I’ve been wondering doubtfully about that expectation. It didn’t seem possible that enough is known about Martian weather to provide a sound analytical basis for expecting that the frequency of cleaning events for Insight would be comparable to those experienced by Spirit and Opportunity.* I also speculated how many more missions would be required to establish such a basis, and wondered whether it is possible to predict roughly comparable events even on earth.

This morning I tried googling “mars cleaning events prediction." Practically the first hit was a comprehensive and fascinating review article, not paywalled, from several months ago: Lorenz et al., Lander and rover histories of dust accumulation on and removal from solar arrays on Mars (2021). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/artic...321001768#bib20

The article explores at length the topics I was thinking about, as well as related issues. As is typical for Ralph's articles, it includes an illuminating discussion of past work and is full of insights that are accessible to a reader with no technical qualifications whatsoever.

It's remarkable how often, when I'm wondering about a planetary science question, that the best and most accessible resource turns out to be an article, or a series of articles, written by Ralph.

_______
* No criticism intended. The fact that a strong pattern of cleaning events occurred at two widely separated locations is a striking and suggestive phenomenon, and I’m sure that the Insight team’s predictions were appropriately qualified. I note that the presentation quoted in Phil's post appears to distinguish between "predictions" and "expectations."

Edit: Clarified that Phil was quoting the presentation. And thanks to fredk for pointing out that I'd missed the prior discussion of Ralph's article.

[fredk]

Practically the first hit was a comprehensive and fascinating review article

Linked to just a few posts back! Check out a bit of discussion there.

[Phil Stooke]

I quoted from that MEPAG presentation, but I should have linked to it. Here it is:

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meeting/2021-09/...EPAG%20VM13.pdf

And this link goes to the full set of presentations:

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm


The Curiosity and Perseverance presentations are also good.

Phil

[Fox]

Looks like InSight tried to dust off the solar panels again.

[PaulH51]

Looks like InSight tried to dust off the solar panels again.

Here's a stabilised animation from sol 1061

https://twitter.com/landru79/status/1462859360762224645

[Phil Stooke]

Sol 1074, the scoop presses on the surface on the other side of the SEIS tether. Not sure what they are doing yet.

Phil

[schmurz]

Sol 1074, the scoop presses on the surface on the other side of the SEIS tether. Not sure what they are doing yet.

Phil

Maybe it's just another one option to clean the dust from the solar panels by tilting the lander a bit

[Phil Stooke]

The arm isn't strong enough to move the lander enough to help. I think it might be to make a smooth surface which they can image at intervals to look for wind-induced changes, moving grains etc.

The digging on the other side of the tether did not begin with an imprint like this.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

A second imprint right on top of the first one (careful inspection of images shows small changes) on sol 1075. Still not sure what's happening.

Here's a graphic summary of recent operations.



Phil