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Seeking How Rocky Planets Form

Jan. 25, 2018
This image is an artist's rendition of NASA's InSight lander. The lander will seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the rocky planets of the solar system, more than 4 billion years ago.

This is an artist's rendition of the InSight lander.

InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. InSight is a Mars mission, but it's more than a Mars mission. The lander seeks the fingerprints of the processes that formed the rocky planets of the solar system, more than 4 billion years ago. It measures the planet's "vital signs:" its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow) and "reflexes" (precision tracking).

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, built the spacecraft. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight.

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