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Source: Courtesy NASA
InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a 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).
InSight seeks to answer one of science's most fundamental questions: How did the terrestrial planets form?
Why Mars?
Previous missions to Mars have investigated the surface history of the Red Planet by examining features like canyons, volcanoes, rocks and soil, but no one has attempted to investigate the planet's earliest evolution - its building blocks - which can only be found by looking far below the surface.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NASA's Exploration Systems Development is building the agency´s crew vehicle, next generation rocket, and ground systems and operations to enable human exploration throughout deep space “” a capability the world has not had for more than 40 years.---------------------------------------------------------------------The Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) and a modernised Kennedy spaceport will support missions to multiple deep space destinations extending beyond our Moon, to Mars and across our solar system. This innovative approach aligns with NASA´s bold new mission to design and build the capability to extend human existence to deep space. Source : NASA
