NASA's InSight Mars lander has ended its mission after more than four years studying the red planet.

NASA decided to declare the mission finished, with the lander entering a state referred to as "dead bus" by engineers, after InSight failed to respond to two transmissions from mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

"The agency will continue to listen for a signal from the lander, just in case, but hearing from it at this point is considered unlikely," reads a press release from NASA Thursday.

The InSight mission carried advanced equipment to study the composition of Mars, including a probe that was intended to dig 16 feet under the surface. Unfortunately, the terrain around the InSight landing site was much clumpier than the loose soil that had been observed at other locations on Mars. The team was able to dig the probe just below the surface to take heat measurements.

"With InSight, seismology was the focus of a mission beyond Earth for the first time since the Apollo missions, when astronauts brought seismometers to the Moon," said Philippe Lognonné, principal investigator of InSight's seismometer.

NASA was counting on gusts of wind to help clear inevitable dust buildup off of InSight's solar panels but the landing area had far less wind than expected. At one point the team used InSight's robotic arm to dump soil onto the solar panels in the hopes that it would scrub off the dust.

"I watched the launch and landing of this mission, and while saying goodbye to a spacecraft is always sad, the fascinating science InSight conducted is cause for celebration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The last time controllers heard from InSight was Dec. 15, when the lander sent one final image back to Earth.

NASA posted the image to InSight's twitter account on Monday with the message "my power's really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don't worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will -- but I'll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me."

"InSight has more than lived up to its name. As a scientist who's spent a career studying Mars, it's been a thrill to see what the lander has achieved, thanks to an entire team of people across the globe who helped make this mission a success," said Laurie Leshin, the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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NASA retires InSight lander after four years on Mars
Washington (AFP) Dec 21, 2022
NASA said farewell on Wednesday to the InSight lander that spent four years probing the interior of Mars. The US space agency said mission control had been unable to contact the spacecraft on two consecutive attempts, leading to the conclusion that its solar-powered batteries have run out of energy. "InSight may be retiring, but its legacy - and its findings from the deep interior of Mars - will live on," NASA said. The space agency said it will continue to listen for a signal from the lan ... read more