Tag: InSight
-
NASA gives up on salvaging InSight Mars lander’s ‘mole’
Artist’s concept of the InSight spacecraft on Mars, with the mole of its HP3 instrument illustrated at lower right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA managers tried for the last time earlier this month to coax the InSight lander’s long-stuck subsurface heat probe into the Martian soil, but after seeing no more progress, ground teams decided to end…
-
NASA mission extension enables first flybys of Jupiter’s moons in 20 years
Artist’s concept of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In a pair of mission extensions, NASA has cleared the way for more seismic observations on Mars with the robotic InSight lander and approved plans for the Juno spacecraft to alter its orbit and perform close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, Ganymede, and the…
-
Curiosity climbs and tilts at Mount Sharp; InSight offers surprises
As the Perseverance — formerly known as Mars 2020 — rover continues preparations for its launch to Mars in July, its older cousin, Curiosity, and extended family member, InSight, continue to reveal new and fascinating features of the Red Planet. For Curiosity, Mount Sharp has provided a new driving route to quickly reach a fascinating…
-
NASA’s InSight mission shows Mars is a seismically active world
In this artist’s concept of NASA’s InSight lander on Mars, layers of the planet’s subsurface can be seen below and dust devils can be seen in the background. Credit: IPGP/Nicolas Sarter While one of its two science instruments remains sidelined, NASA’s InSight probe has proven Mars is seismically active through the detection of hundreds of…
-
Ground teams studying setback with InSight’s subsurface heat probe
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) with comments from Bruce Banerdt, Insight’s principal investigator, about Level 1 requirements. Mars continues to surprise us. While digging this weekend the mole backed about halfway out of the ground. Preliminary assessment points to unexpected soil properties as the main reason. Team looking at next steps. #SaveTheMole…
-
Rescue plan for InSight lander’s stuck heat probe gets underway
Ever since its successful landing at Elysium Planitia on Mars back on November 26th of last year, NASA’s InSight spacecraft has been feverishly studying the planet’s internal structure to get a sense of how it formed and subsequently evolved over billions of years. These studies are currently being conducted by use of a plethora of…
-
Mars lander’s ground team begins inspection of stuck instrument
The InSight lander’s robotic arm camera captured this view of the stuck mole from the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument June 30, soon after the arm lifted and moved the instrument’s support structure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In a bit of interplanetary troubleshooting, the robot arm on NASA’s InSight Mars lander has lifted a…
-
Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars
The self-hammering mole, part of the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) on NASA’s InSight lander, was only partially buried in the soil of Mars as of early June 2019, as shown in this illustration. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its…
-
InSight lander detects first likely ‘quake’ on Mars
This image of InSight’s seismometer was captured March 19. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Sensors delivered to Mars by NASA’s InSight lander have detected the first signals suggesting seismic activity on the red planet, a major discovery that extends the field of seismology to a new world beyond the Earth and the moon. Scientists announced the detection Tuesday,…
-
InSight scientists not sure stalled Mars heat probe can be recovered
A camera on the end of the InSight lander’s robotic arm took this picture of the Heat and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, instrument’s support structure on the Martian surface March 28. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ground teams analyzing data from a heat probe that got stuck soon after it started digging into the Martian crust under…