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How NASA's Next Mars Mission Will Take the Red Planet's Pulse | Decoder


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

A ball of fire pierces the atmosphere of Mars, plummeting towards the surface at 13,200 miles per hour. This fireball across the horizon marks the end of a 301 million mile journey for NASA's InSight and the beginning of a groundbreaking mission. For five decades, NASA probes have explored the exterior of the Martian landscape and atmosphere, but now, for the first time, the InSight lander will go deeper than ever before inside the ancient mysteries of the red planet.

What's inside Mars, and how can the red planet help us better understand our own? Go, Atlas, go! Inside, this is the Atlas V. On May 5th, 2018, it became the first rocket to launch an interplanetary mission from the west coast of the United States. Cruising through space for 205 days, InSight will fly almost halfway around the sun and eventually intersect with its final destination, Mars.

The fourth planet from the sun, Mars is the second smallest in the solar system. It's a rocky planet like Earth, but much of what's inside is still a mystery. To give us a window into Mars’ deep interior, NASA's InSight lander will check the planet's vital signs for clues. Unlike previous Mars missions, this probe will stay in one place for the duration of its mission.

First, it will check its pulse. Its sensitive seismometer will gauge vibrations from meteor impacts or marsquakes caused by shifting rocks. Listening to these shakes and quakes will make it possible for us to determine the depth and composition of its crust, mantle, and core.

Next, InSight will check the planet's temperature. Its heat probe will burrow deep underground, up to a depth of 16 feet beneath the Martian surface. This groundbreaking device will measure the planet's interior temperatures and track how they fluctuate throughout the year.

To complete its checkup, InSight will test the reflexes of Mars by measuring small changes in a radio signal from Earth. This will show us how much the planet wobbles in its rotation, which can give us clues about its core composition. If Mars has a liquid core, its rotation will be more wobbly, and if its core is more solid, we'll see less wobbling.

When studied together, these vital signs will give us valuable insight into rocky planets as well as improve our understanding of how they form. It's exciting to consider the future possibilities of human habitation on Mars, but as we look forward, we must also make sure to look backwards to learn from our solar system's ancient past. Who knows what secrets the universe might reveal?

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