Mission Type: Lander NASA Center: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations,
Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a proposed NASA Discovery Program
mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to
study its deep interior. But InSight is more than a Mars mission
- it is a terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of
the most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system
science - understanding the processes that shaped the rocky
planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than
four billion years ago. By using sophisticated geophysical
instruments, InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of
Mars, detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial
planet formation, as well as measuring the planet's "vital
signs": Its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow
probe), and "reflexes" (precision tracking). Because Mars has
been less geologically active than the Earth (for example, it
does not have plate tectonics), it actuall