HiRISE often takes images of landed spacecraft on the surface for a variety of reasons such as checking the positions of rovers, the health of landers that aren’t responding anymore, or neighborhood conditions after large weather events.

This image, from 9 March 2022, shows the InSight lander with a visible coating of reddish Martian dust that has accumulated since the landing (November 2018) and especially during the January 2022 storm. The dark blast zone created during the landing has also been substantially covered up and looks close to its pre-landing condition. Likewise, the discarded parachute that landed nearby looks much dustier than immediately after landing.

Long-term change detection at sites, like the InSight landing area, tells us how dust moves around Mars and helps us understand how the surface evolves over time.

Written by: Shane Byrne  (15 April 2022)