With each mission to Mars our knowledge of the planet is providing invaluable science data. The InSight lander is no different and will directly help future human missions to the Red Planet.
The InSight lander is nearing the end of its mission, but what a a four years it’s been since it landed on May 5, 2018.
InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is the first lander to probe the subsurface of Mars InSight: its crust, mantle, and core in part by monitoring marsquakes. The lander is also providing weather reports including daily “measurements (temperature, wind, pressure) on the surface of Mars.”
According to NASA, Insight will has been studying Mars’ interior structure to “answer key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets. InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today.”
“The lander uses cutting edge instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets. It does so by measuring the planet’s ‘vital signs’: its ‘pulse’ (seismology), ‘temperature’ (heat flow), and ‘reflexes’ (precision tracking).
Learn more by watching this recent video on the all the science goals InSight has accomplished.