One year’s worth of data from NASA’s InSight mission
NASA released a year’s worth of data from its InSight mission to Mars. The findings were released in a set of six papers that has provided new information about the Red Planet.
- What is the InSight mission acronym for?
The name ‘InSight’ is acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. It is a mission to Mars that landed on November 26th, 2018. Data collected over a year’s time was released through 6 papers. The data is to be collected for another year to get a more complete picture (2 earth years constitute a mars year).
- Which NASA program is InSight mission part of?
The InSight mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program. It is a robotic lander launched in 2018 to study the interiors of Mars. The mission uses geophysical measurements to study the interior structure of Mars and its evolution.
- What is ‘Homestead Hollow’?
Homestead Hollow is the site of the InSight spacecraft’s landing on Mars. It is a shallow crater in a region called Elysium Planitia. The Elysium Plantia is a plain on the equatorial region of Mars. InSight mission is the first NASA mission dedicated to look beneath the Martian surface.
- What causes marsquakes?
The InSight mission had detected hundreds of mars-quakes. These quakes are reported to be caused by the long term cooling of the planet. The interior of the planet is cooling, causing the contraction. This causes the brittle crust to crack and the surface tremors.
- Do marsquakes originate from points deeper beneath the surface than earthquakes?
Marsquakes originate from points much deeper within the Red Planet than earthquakes on Earth. The marsquakes detected by InSight originated 30 to 50km under the Martian surface. As a result, the marsquakes are mostly weak- in the magnitude range of 3 to 4.
