Insight is fading it is being wiped off the planet it was ordered to thoroughly investigate four
years have passed since insight and Mars began their battle the inside Lander has repeatedly used
sophisticated instruments to pry out the planet's deepest secrets in an effort to penetrate its core
with metal and a hammer but from the beginning Mars fought back with a never-ending assault
choking the light from inside's components and making it helpless it did this by utilizing a
seemingly harmless weapon that kept building however not before Insight discovered what it
was looking for it has discovered information that has improved our knowledge of Mars and the
solar system and now let's take a closer look of the Insight Mission and its findings as it
begins to shut down completely because this may be the last time we do so but much like a good
thriller film this story has one more twist to it the most significant of all of insight's messages
to us may turn out to be those that it sends when it is fading so stay tuned till the end of this
video as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will help us unravel the Mysteries behind insights Mars Landers Mission
and what he found out that left him in shock hello everyone welcome back to Elon Musk Evolution where
we bring you the most recent news about Elon Musk and his multi-billion dollar companies space news
and the latest science and technology but before we begin make sure you subscribe to our Channel
and click the Bell icon so you don't miss any of our amazing videos according to musk Insight
touchdown on Mars on November 26 2018. its goal was to investigate Mars core in order to help us
comprehend the planet's composition and potential formation process 4 billion years ago this would
help us understand the other three rocky planets in our solar system including Mercury Venus and
even our own Earth as Mars is one of them Mars on the other hand was insight's antagonist and
Mars was not one to readily disclose its Secrets Insight would lose battles before it would win
the war and through its sensors the first defeat happened for data collection insight has two main
sensors the first is a seismograph called seis that is intended to find even the smallest Tremors
in the crust that might be caused by meteorite strikes or earthquakes on Mars musk says the
second was a heat flow and radiometer sensor package mounted on a mole a device that digs
by hammering insight's mole immediately discovered that it was difficult to reach the three to five
meters depth required to obtain accurate data due to Natural variations in the Martian soil from
what was measured for back on Earth in actuality it was only barely able to penetrate the surface
over the course of more than two years researchers sought to find a way to get the mole to dig but in
January 2021 they decided to abandon that part of the operation as a result the seis remained
the primary tool used by scientists to examine the planet's core this was accomplished by paying
attention to the pns waves of Mars Quakes the planet's crust core and mantle all experience
Ripple effects when a Mars Quakes occurs some of the Waves may bounce back towards the surface when
they encounter the points where these three parts converge in other words when seis hears
the quake's Rumblings it frequently also detects a lot of secondary Echoes from the same Quake it is
possible to learn crucial details about the size shape and density of Mars internal by measuring
the time and magnitude of these secondary Echoes Insight however was under a time crunch the enemy
of NASA made an unflattering appearance you guessed it dust is an unassuming but sneaky
weapon of Destruction if you reach this part of the video stay tuned till the end of the video
cause we will be unfolding all the mysteries of the red planet two sizable solar panels were used
in the construction of insight a stationary Lander to provide it with the power it would require for
the duration of its two-year Mission however scientists were aware of the challenges they
would face including dust when the mission was extended to a four-year Mission dust may appear
harmless but if it landed on the solar cells it might entirely obstruct insight's capacity to
gather energy more dust did just that during the course of the four years these panels might have
generated 5000 watt hours every Martian day at the start of the trip they can now only generate
500 watt hours which is around 10 minutes worth of electricity for an electric oven without that kind
of energy Insight would be unable to maintain its heaters leaving its parts exposed to the minus 70
degrees Celsius temperatures of Martian nights which would quickly destroy them Insight was
not built with inbuilt fans or cleaners instead they had counted on cleaning events in which tiny
Martian whirlwinds or dust devils would appear and sweep away extra dust unfortunately despite
the fact that these windy disturbances were seen they did not approach frequently enough
to adequately clean insights panels inside began to shut down in 2021 as a result but scientists
weren't going to let this happen so in early June 2021 they developed an obviously illogical method
of cleaning the panels of dust adding more dust Insight doesn't have any cleaning equipment but
it does have a little robotic arm with a scoop that it may use to pick up sand from the ground
around it the plan was to use the Martian wind to gradually pour sand from the scoop onto the
panels musk explained ideally the wind would cause the sand to bounce off the edges of the panels as
it fell and as the sand struck the panel it would push dust loose eliminating it though the idea may
seem absurd in principle it really worked giving the Lander an extra 30 watt hours of power each
day this changed everything by extending insight's Mission into the summer of 2021 and the next year
only in the last year of insight's life after it should have passed away didn't notice its
biggest Mars Quakes insight's Lander picked up more than 1300 Martian Quakes during the
course of the mission these Mars Quakes mostly had minor magnitudes musk explained the lower size of
Mars prevents the crust from being divided into multiple plates which means that it lacks plate
tectonics the process by which one plate pushes against or submerges another causing some of the
most powerful earthquakes on Earth if you weren't standing directly on top of the epicenter of a
Mars earthquake which most invariably registers below a magnitude 4 on the Richter Scale you
probably wouldn't even be aware it happened are you still here from what we have covered so far do
you think life form really exists on Mars comment down below fortunately while detecting such tiny
Quakes is highly challenging on Earth it is much easier on Mars and insights seis instrument is
equipped to detect mag-4 Quakes from as far away as approximately one thousand kilometers
Mars is quieter than Earth oceans on Earth are continually moving back and forth which causes
vibrations that can entirely conceal smaller earthquakes Mars meanwhile certainly has no
such issue nevertheless scientists hope to detect some Mars Quakes that were more powerful than mag4
the best images of what was happening beneath Mars crust would be provided by these events this Hope
was not fulfilled for the majority of insight's mission but in May 2022 the there was a rumble
a mag-5 Mars quick the greatest yet was detected by data streamed in by insights seis sensor this
important data item would not have been heard if Insight had already shut down therefore NASA
had deemed the inside Mission a great success it has produced information that will open the
way for numerous upcoming missions however what can we conclude from the previous communication
and the ones that came before it what can we learn about Mars from the information provided
starting with the fact that Mars does indeed have a crust a mantle and a core exactly like
the Earth we now know this because to insights data we weren't prepared for the crust to be
that thin as opposed to the Earth which may reach a thickness of 70 kilometers it has two
to three sub-layers and is 20 to 37 kilometers deep although it drops another 1560 kilometers
its mantle is not as heated as previously thought lastly it has a core with an 1830 kilometer radius
which is larger than scientists had anticipated it is also less thick than previously anticipated
which is unexpected musk stated scientists now believe that it must contain lighter elements
like carbon oxygen sulfur and hydrogen instead of just being composed of nickel and iron as the
earth's core is this is an interesting realization it explains why Mars molten core is still present
these lighter elements lower the freezing point of Mars core in a manner similar to how salt lowers
the freezing point of ice which is why grit is often spread on roads during cold weather
it also suggests where the planet came from even though scientists now have a general idea of Mars
internal structure some previously held beliefs that have been refuted by insights discoveries
for instance a hot spot of magma that feeds the volcanic processes we witness in this
region Lies Beneath the highly volcanic region of Mars surface known as tharsus
which is home to Olympus Mons a volcano that is 2.5 times taller than Mount Everest
finally Insight can relax when it shuts down and closes its eyes while looking at Mars's scattered
clouds and Sandy Plains it completed the mission for which it was sent finally the inner workings
of Mars are revealed are you concerned that our world might one day resemble Mars help us battle
climate change please if you can plant more trees and that ends today's episode please subscribe
and don't forget to like today's video we'll see you in the next video thanks for watching