The power is running out, and this may be the last photo sent back by the NASA Insight Mars lander.

CTOnews.com, December 20 (Xinhua)-- NASA's InSight landed on Mars four years ago, and the lander sent back what may be its last image taken on Mars on Monday.

NASA Insight posted today: "my battery is really low, so this may be the last photo I can send. But don't worry about me: my time here is productive and peaceful. If I can continue to talk to my mission team, I will continue, but my Mars mission will be over soon. Thank you for your company."

CTOnews.com learned that Insight's power is expected to run out later this month, and NASA will officially end its mission to Mars when it is unable to communicate with spacecraft orbiting Mars twice in a row.

Insight's operation team began preparing for the end of the lander's mission earlier this year, shutting down the equipment that needed the most power and ensuring that the data it collected over the past four years was preserved.

Since landing on Mars in November 2018, the Insight lander has explored the Martian liquid core and other core components, and has detected more than 1300 earthquakes on the planet, including a magnitude 5 earthquake in May.

The core mission of the Insight lander was completed in the first two years. A pair of 7-foot-wide solar panels initially generated about 5000 watt-hours of electricity per solar day (or Martian day), but only about 5000 watt-hours per solar day last month due to the accumulation of dust.