The agency said it has assumed that InSight may have reached its end of operations after previously admitting that dust build-up on its solar panels may be preventing its battery from charging.
While this could be a reason the lander has gone quiet, Nasa admitted that it current has no definitive explanation of why InSight’s energy levels have declined although it will continue to try and regain contact.
Since landing in November 2018, the probe has been traversing the surface of Mars measuring marsquakes and observing the local weather, powering itself with a pair of solar arrays that soak up energy from the sun.
It was originally only expected to operate for two years so is already running on borrowed time. Nevertheless, as recently as October the probe was still making discoveries when it revealed that a massive meteor strike hit Mars last year scattering large chunks of ice around the crater in which it sits.
Dust build-up is a significant problem...