InSight

The good news is that there's a vast ocean of water under the surface of Mars – enough to cover the entire planet to a depth of a mile (1.6 km). The bad news is that this repository is so deep and unreachable that it might as well be in another galaxy.

NASA’s InSight listened out for seismic activity on Mars, and last year it picked up a marsquake so big it was suspected to be a meteoroid impact. Now, thanks to the cooperation of all agencies with orbiters around Mars, the source has been tracked.

One day on Mars is about 37 minutes longer than an Earth day – but it seems both planets are working to fix the gap. Data from NASA’s InSight lander have revealed Martian days are getting ever so slightly shorter, and scientists aren’t sure why.

Mars is usually considered a geologically dead planet, but a new study challenges that idea. Multiple lines of evidence reveals a giant plume of magma is forcing its way up through the mantle and producing seismic activity in one region of the surface.

NASA’s InSight lander has recorded the two strongest quakes detected so far on Mars, with both measuring over magnitude 4. These seismic events rolled in from the far side of the Red Planet, and one also clocked the record for longest marsquake.

NASA has released a symphony of sounds captured by InSight on Mars including quakes, howling winds, metallic “dinks and donks” and other eerie sounds.

​​Digging into the surface of another planet for the first time is going to bring some surprises, you’d just hope that those surprises don’t include your digging being brought to a halt. This is the dilemma scientists working on the Mars InSight mission have been forced to contend with.

NASA's InSight lander continues to ramp up for the science phase of its mission, having now dropped its the second instrument pack on the Martian surface. Images confirm that the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package had been placed within a meter of the previously deployed seismometer.

NASA's InSight lander continues to set up house on Mars and has now placed a domed shield over the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument package that its robotic arm placed on the surface on December 19, 2018.

​​Less than a week has passed since NASA’s Insight spacecraft settled into its dusty landing site on the surface of Mars, but the intrepid science laboratory has already claimed a new record for power generation on the Red Planet. ​

NASA's InSight spacecraft has completed its first major course correction, setting it on its way to Mars. On May 22, the unmanned probe made a 40-second burn to not only alter the probe's trajectory, but to also protect the Red Planet from biocontamination by the mission's Centaur rocket booster.

When NASA's InSight lander touches down on Mars, it will have an unusual cargo. Where other interplanetary probes might carry a commemorative plaque, InSight will have a microchip inscribed with the names of 2,429,807 names submitted by public.