InSight Mars Lander

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)

Agency

NASA / CNES / DLR

Launched

2018-05-05

Landed

2018-11-26

Operated

~1,445 sols (mission ended 2022-12-21)

Technical Details

Agency	NASA / CNES / DLR
Country	🇺🇸 USA
Landing Site	Elysium Planitia (4.502°N, 135.623°E)
Power System	Solar panels (degraded progressively by dust accumulation; no dust-cleaning winds at landing site)
Mass	694 kg

Key Findings

1.Detected 1,319 Mars quakes over the mission lifetime, including magnitude-5.0 events — definitively proving Mars is seismically active
2.SEIS seismometer revealed Mars's internal structure: thin crust (20–37 km), mantle extending to ~1,560 km depth, and a small liquid metallic core (~1,830 km radius)
3.Core found to be less dense than predicted — likely enriched in lighter elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, or sulfur
4.Detected meteorite impacts acoustically for the first time on another planet, cross-confirmed by orbital imagery
5.HP³ heat probe (the 'Mole') failed to penetrate beyond ~40 cm due to unexpectedly cohesive, poorly-thermally-conducting regolith

Mission Outcome

InSight delivered the first seismic, geodetic, and heat-flow measurements from the Martian interior, fundamentally revising models of how rocky planets form and evolve. Its seismometer revealed a surprisingly thin crust and a large, low-density liquid core, suggesting Mars's interior is compositionally distinct from earlier models. The mission ended in December 2022 when dust accumulation on the solar panels cut power below the minimum operating threshold.

Sources

[1] NASA Mars Exploration Program — retrieved 2026-06-01
[2] NASA NSSDCA — retrieved 2026-06-01

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