After a successful launch in May 5, 2018 the Insight mission sent to Mars to explore Mars’ interior structure is planned to land on November 26, 2018. The interesting part is the mission landing will be monitored by two cube satellites that were launched with Insight and have been traveling on their own since the launch as show in the launch video below. The landing can be watched live on Nov. 26, 2018.
space exploration
Insight, a mission to explore Mars’ Interior
So far the only way to get any information about the interior of rocky planets was from the moment of inertia which is related to a planets mass distribution. This only allowed to estimate if a planet has a mantle and what the estimated thicknesses of the core and mantle are. Of course, other (remote sensing) methods like potential (gravity and magnetic) fields can also give more information about a planets interior. However, the only solid way to determine the layer interface and their depth and thicknesses is seismic imaging, a popular technique used to image Earth’s subsurface and interior.
Cassini – An exhilarating story of planetary exploration
StandardFor more information: Cassini at Saturn
More on the Grand Finale (2nd dive: May 2, 2017; End of mission: Sept 15, 2017)
Ibrahim El Merehbi 