Because of the hard work of my team, solar power has improved. At the start of the year we thought we’d stop collecting science for six months; now I’ll be operating for most of the summer.

Hey Paul, Phil,
a quickie try to get that streak more visible
spots of dust on the lens are coming off too...

It doesnt cover the recent sand-sprinkling cleaning efforts on InSight, but I have a paper just out (open access) that reviews the dust accumulation and removal on solar arrays on Mars landers/rovers (and Curiosity's UV sensors)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2021.105337

Unrelated to dust accumulation, do you have any good references for estimates of Mars' daylight spectral power distribution?

The Crisp paper cited in my article is one.
you could also look at https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/bitstream/handle/2....pdf?sequence=1

NASA’s InSight Finds Three Big Marsquakes, Thanks to Solar-Panel Dusting
The lander cleared enough dust from one solar panel to keep its seismometer on through the summer, allowing scientists to study the three biggest quakes they’ve seen on Mars.
On Sept. 18, NASA’s InSight lander celebrated its 1,000th Martian day, or sol, by measuring one of the biggest, longest-lasting marsquakes the mission has ever detected. The temblor is estimated to be about a magnitude 4.2 and shook for nearly an hour-and-a-half.

It would be nice if my interpretation is too pessimistic... but is it?

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.

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.

Practically the first hit was a comprehensive and fascinating review article

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

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

Phil

...
In the hindsight department, it might have been nice to have brush attachment on the deck that could be picked up by the grapple on the arm and used to brush off the panels. But there might be good reasons why that wouldn't have been feasible either.
John

We had years of brush talks with the MER rovers, basically the timeline of the panels is designed for the timeline of the primary mission.

NASA’s InSight Enters Safe Mode During Regional Mars Dust Storm

The lander has taken measures to conserve energy; engineers aim to return to normal operations next week.

NASA’s InSight lander is stable and sending health data from Mars to Earth after going into safe mode Friday, Jan. 7, following a large, regional dust storm that reduced the sunlight reaching its solar panels. In safe mode, a spacecraft suspends all but its essential functions.

The mission’s team reestablished contact with InSight Jan. 10, finding that its power was holding steady and, while low, was unlikely to be draining the lander’s batteries. Drained batteries are believed to have caused the end of NASA’s Opportunity rover during an epic series of dust storms that blanketed the Red Planet in 2018.

Even before this recent dust storm, dust had been accumulating on InSight’s solar panels, reducing the lander’s power supply. Using a scoop on the lander’s robotic arm, InSight’s team came up with an innovative way to reduce the dust on one panel, and gained several boosts of energy during 2021, but these activities become increasingly difficult as available energy decreases.

Dust storms can affect solar panels in two ways: Dust reduces sunlight filtering through the atmosphere, and it can also accumulate on the panels. Whether this storm will leave an additional layer of dust on the solar panels remains to be determined.

The current dust storm was first detected by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which creates daily color maps of the entire planet. Those maps allow scientists to monitor dust storms and can serve as an early warning system for spacecraft on the Martian surface. InSight’s team received data indicating the regional storm is waning.

The whirlwinds and gusts of dust storms have helped to clear solar panels over time, as with the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rover missions. While InSight’s weather sensors have detected many passing whirlwinds, none have cleared any dust.

InSight’s engineers are hopeful they will be able to command the lander to exit safe mode next week. This will allow more flexibility in operating the lander, as communication, which requires a relatively large amount of energy, is limited in safe mode to conserve battery charge.

InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018, to study the inner structure of the planet, including its crust, mantle and core. The spacecraft achieved its science objectives before its prime mission ended a year ago. NASA then extended the mission for up to two years, to December 2022, based on the recommendation of an independent review panel composed of experts with backgrounds in science, operations and mission management.

snip NASA's InSight Enters Safe Mode During Regional Mars Dust Storm link

NASA’s InSight has exited safe mode and resumed normal operations, although its science instruments remain off. Skies appear to be clearing of dust above the spacecraft. Over the next two weeks, the mission team will assess the effects of dust accumulation on the lander’s power.