NASA’s InSight Mars lander dumped dirt on itself on purpose

On May 22nd, a stationary robot on Mars used its arm to scoop up some Martian sand. It then slowly dumped it onto itself, with the brisk Mars wind snatching the tiny grains and whipping them against the machine's solar panels. The robot was NASA's InSight Mars lander, and the sand dump wasn't a mistake. It might sound counterintuitive, but the space agency aimed to actually clean one of the lander's most sensitive components by using the sand as a tool to knock off a layer of rust-colored dust that covers the entire lander.

Unlike NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, the InSight lander relies on solar power to gather energy. It stores the power in its batteries so it can enjoy a steady supply of electricity to its vital instruments. Unfortunately, with Mars approaching its farther point from the Sun in its orbit, solar power is waning, and the reddish dust covering the lander and its solar panels is only making things worse.