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Mars is InSight

June 7, 2018

Last month, on May 5, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a new Mars probe called Insight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport. InSight, a probe that will study the formation of Mars, is NASA’s first interplanetary mission launched from the west coast of the United States. All previous such launches took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

An artist's rendition of the InSight lander operating on the surface of Mars. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a lander designed to give Mars its first thorough check up since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast between May 5 through June 8, 2018, and land on Mars six months later, on Nov. 26, 2018. InSight complements missions orbiting Mars and roving around on the planet's surface. The lander's science instruments look for tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars, study how much heat is still flowing through the planet, and track the planet's wobble as it orbits the sun. This helps answer key questions about how the rocky planets of the solar system formed. So while InSight is a Mars mission, it's also more than a Mars mission. Surface operations begin a minute after landing at Elysium Planitia. The lander's prime mission is one Mars year (approximately two Earth years).  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This artist’s rendition shows the InSight lander operating on the surface of Mars. The probe is scheduled to land on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The InSight mission cost just $814 million, a relatively small sum in the multibillion-dollar science of space exploration. The bargain probe will break new ground, however, quite literally, by drilling into the Martian surface. It will sample temperatures, measure the magnetic field, and record seismic levels, all to help scientists understand the planet’s formation. The data may also shed light on the formation of Earth and our solar system.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. Liftoff was at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.  Credit: Cory Huston, NASA

A NASA Atlas V rocket carrying InSight breaks through the clouds above Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5, 2018. Credit: Cory Huston, NASA

Earth has three major layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. Planetary scientists think our solar system’s other rocky planets—Mercury, Venus, and Mars—also have these layers. Scientists are unsure, however, how thick the layers are in the other planets. Earth has churned itself up through the process of plate tectonics, changing the chemical makeup and size of its layers over time. But Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, has experienced much less seismic activity. The planet’s present structure, then, should somewhat resemble its original composition when the solar system was formed.

ExoMars 2016 hopes to find evidence of life on Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Beginning in late November 2018, NASA’s InSight probe will study the formation of Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

InSight carries three instruments vital to its mission. The Seismic Experiment Interior Structure (SEIS) sensor will study seismic waves from marsquakes (the Martian equivalent of earthquakes) to determine the structure of the interior of Mars. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) will drill down almost 15 feet (5 meters) below the Martian surface—the deepest extraterrestrial excavation to date. As it drills, HP3 will record temperature changes to see how much heat remains from Mars’s formation billions of years ago. Scientists can determine the age of rocks, fossils, and other objects by measuring the radioactive elements in them, a science called radiogeology. A third InSight instrument will measure Mars’s magnetic field.

In an unusual arrangement, a robotic arm will move SEIS and HP3 from docks on the body of the lander to the surface of Mars. Tethers will control and power the instruments. Other than that, InSight’s design is pretty standard. Engineers reused much of the design of NASA’s Pheonix lander, which, in 2008, studied the history of water on Mars. By reusing this successful design, engineers saved many millions of dollars on the mission.

Two CubeSats (miniature satellites) hitched a ride on InSight’s rocket and are also traveling to Mars. The CubeSats are the first such satellites to venture beyond Earth’s orbit, and they will help transfer data from InSight during the probe’s landing.

InSight is scheduled to land on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018. Despite NASA’s strong recent record for Mars missions and the use of the proven Phoenix platform, success is far from guaranteed. Over the years, nearly two-thirds of all Mars missions have failed before completing their planned observations.

Tags: InSight, mars, nasa, probe


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