Tag Archives: InSight

European Space Agency: Supporting InSight

At just before 9pm Central European Time on 26 November, Mars will receive a new visitor: NASA’s InSight lander. (…) Since InSight’s study is focused on sensing the planet’s interior, surface geology is not such an important factor in deciding … Continue reading

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InSight: First photo of Elysium Planitia

Elysium Planitia, as seen through a dust-spattered dust cover. Click the image to enlarge it. NASA’s InSight Mars lander acquired this image of the area in front of the lander using its lander-mounted, Instrument Context Camera (ICC). This image was … Continue reading

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InSight: Successful landing!

InSight is down on the ground on Elysium Planitia.  More here.

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InSight: Landing preview

[Originally broadcast November 25, 2018]

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InSight’s timeline to touchdown

On Nov. 26, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will blaze through the Martian atmosphere and attempt to set a lander gently on the surface of the Red Planet in less time than it takes to hard-boil an egg. InSight’s entry, descent and … Continue reading

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InSight: Science and engineering of a Mars lander

Prior to landing on the Red Planet, NASA discusses the engineering that went into the InSight lander. Launched on May 5, InSight marks NASA’s first Mars landing since the Curiosity rover in 2012. The landing will kick off a two-year … Continue reading

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Mantle plumes still active under Tharsis, Elysium?

[Editor’s note: From a paper by A.-C. Plesa and eight co-authors recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.] The thermal state and interior structure of Mars We constrain the thermal state and interior structure of Mars by combining a large number … Continue reading

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InSight: On course toward landing

NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a soft touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, the Monday after Thanksgiving. But it’s not going to be … Continue reading

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What two planetary siblings can teach us about life

Mars and Earth are like two siblings who have grown apart. There was a time when their resemblance was uncanny: Both were warm, wet and shrouded in thick atmospheres. But 3 or 4 billion years ago, these two worlds took … Continue reading

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InSight: What’s the sound of a Mars touchdown?

What’s the sound of a touchdown on Mars? If you’re at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it sounds like winning the Super Bowl: cheers, laughter and lots of hollering. But in the minutes before that, NASA’s InSight team will be monitoring … Continue reading

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