Goodnight, sweet spacecraft: NASA's InSight lander may have just signed off from Mars

NASA's InSight Mars lander is covered in dust in its final selfie, taken on April 24. The following month its robotic arm was put into resting position, aka "retirement pose." (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The end has long been in sight for InSight, the NASA lander that's been stationed on Mars since 2018.

Project officials warned in May that the lander would likely become inoperative by the end of the year because of the dust that had accumulated on its solar panels, diminishing its power source. By early November, NASA announced the end was near and started taking steps to wind down the mission.