Top 5 things to know about Mars Insight

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s InSight lander after it has deployed its instruments on the Martian surface. Image Via NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s InSight spacecraft is currently hurtling toward Mars, due to touch down on the Red Planet’s surface on November 26, 2018. Unlike recent missions to Mars, which have included rovers, Mars InSight will stay put where it lands, on a high plain near Mars’ equator called Elysium Planitia, chosen for its flatness. NASA calls what InSight will be doing on Mars sedentary science. It said in an October 24, 2018 statement that – from its perch on Elysium Planitia – InSight will be able to detect geophysical signals deep below Mars’ surface, including marsquakes and heat. Scientists will also be able to track radio signals from the stationary spacecraft, which will vary based on the wobble in Mars’ rotation. Understanding this wobble could help solve the mystery of whether Mars has a solid core.

InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. Keep reading for five highlights of the Mars InSight mission.

The Mars InSight mission will touch on Elysium Planitia, a flat and smooth plain just north of Mars’ equator. This site is just 370 miles (600 km) from Gale Crater, whose vicinity NASA’s Curiosity rover has been exploring since August, 2012. Image via NASA.

1. How can InSight measure quakes anywhere on Mars?

Quakes on Earth are usually detected using networks of seismometers. InSight has only one – called SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) – so its science team will use some creative measurements to analyze seismic waves as they occur anywhere on the planet.

SEIS will measure seismic waves from marsquakes and meteorite strikes as they move through Mars. The speed of those waves changes depending on the material they’re traveling through, helping scientists deduce what the planet’s interior is made of.

Seismic waves come in a surprising number of flavors. Some vibrate across a planet’s surface, while others ricochet off its center. They also move at different speeds. Seismologists can use each type as a tool to triangulate where and when a seismic event has happened.

This means InSight could have landed anywhere on Mars and, without moving, gathered the same kind of science.

2. InSight’s seismometer needs peace and quiet

Seismometers are touchy by nature. They need to be isolated from “noise” in order to measure seismic waves accurately.

SEIS is sensitive enough to detect vibrations smaller than the width of a hydrogen atom. It will be the first seismometer ever set on the Martian surface, where it will be thousands of times more accurate than seismometers that sat atop the Viking landers.

To take advantage of this sensitivity, engineers have given SEIS a shell: a wind-and-thermal shield that InSight’s arm will place over the seismometer. This protective dome presses down when wind blows over it; a Mylar-and-chainmail skirt keeps wind from blowing in. It also gives SEIS a cozy place to hide away from Mars’ intense temperature swings, which can create minute changes in the instrument’s springs and electronics.

3. InSight has a self-hammering nail

Have you ever tried to hammer a nail? Then you know holding it steady is key. InSight carries a nail that also needs to be held steady.

This unique instrument, called HP³ (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package), holds a spike attached to a long tether. A mechanism inside the spike will hammer it up to 16 feet (5 meters) underground, dragging out the tether, which is embedded with heat sensors.

At that depth, it can detect heat trapped inside Mars since the planet first formed. That heat shaped the surface with volcanoes, mountain ranges and valleys. It may even have determined where rivers ran early in Mars’ history.

4. InSight can land in a safe spot

Because InSight needs stillness – and because it can collect seismic and heat data from anywhere on the planet – the spacecraft is free to land in the safest location possible.

InSight’s team selected a location on Mars’ equator called Elysium Planitia – as flat and boring a spot as any on Mars. That makes landing just a bit easier, as there’s less to crash into, fewer rocks to land on and lots of sunlight to power the spacecraft. The fact that InSight doesn’t use much power and should have plenty of sunlight at Mars’ equator means it can provide lots of data for scientists to study.

5. InSight can measure Mars’ wobble

InSight has two X-band antennas on its deck that make up a third instrument, called RISE (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment). Radio signals from RISE will be measured over months, maybe even years, to study the tiny “wobble” in the rotation of the planet. That wobble is a sign of whether Mars’ core is liquid or solid – a trait that could also shed light on the planet’s thin magnetic field.

Collecting detailed data on this wobble hasn’t happened since Mars Pathfinder’s three-month mission in 1997 (although the Opportunity rover made a few measurements in 2011 while it remained still, waiting out the winter). Every time a stationary spacecraft sends radio signals from Mars, it can help scientists improve their measurements.

Click here for more info about Mars Insight

InSight selfie, taken in August, 2018, while the craft was en route to Mars. This image shows the craft’s backshell, which carries some components needed for the mission and also will help protect the craft on descent. Read more. Image via NASA.

Bottom line: Five highlights of the Mars Insight mission, due to touch down on Mars on November 26, 2018.

Via NASA

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