InSight

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Mars Lander's Possible Final Image: 'Don't Worry About Me'

After 4 years, InSight is believed to have lost power—meaning we may not hear from it again

(Newser) - NASA's InSight might finally be dead. The Mars lander whose solar panels have been caked in dust for months failed to respond to communications on Sunday, NASA reported. The announcement came alongside what could be a final selfie from InSight, showing the lander in what looked like a very...

NASA Spacecraft Record Major Meteor Strikes on Mars

Photos show impact craters almost 500 feet wide

(Newser) - Two NASA spacecraft at Mars—one on the surface and the other in orbit—have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet. The high-speed barrages last December sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet, and carved...

Only a Whirlwind Can Save Mars Lander

InSight is losing power due to dust buildup on solar panels

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft on Mars is headed for a dusty demise. The InSight lander is losing power because of all the dust on its solar panels. NASA says it will keep using the spacecraft’s seismometer to register marsquakes until the power peters out, likely in July, the AP reports....

Digger on Mars Just Couldn't Gain Traction

NASA gives up after the soil wasn't quite what it was expecting

(Newser) - NASA declared the Mars digger dead Thursday after failing to burrow deep into the red planet to take its temperature. Scientists in Germany spent two years trying to get their heat probe, dubbed the mole, to drill into the Martian crust. But the 16-inch-long device that is part of NASA'...

NASA Finds Weird Magnetic Pulses on Mars

NASA's InSight lander detects them only at midnight

(Newser) - Notice a weird magnetic pulse? You must be on Mars around midnight. At least that's what NASA's InSight lander is finding as it probes the planet for clues to its history, National Geographic reports. The robotic geophysicist—which is recording tremors, measuring ground temperatures, etc—also says there'...

Why a 'Faint Rumble' on Mars Is 'So Exciting'

It's 'proof that Mars is still seismically active'

(Newser) - It was a " faint rumble " but it meant something big—the first seismic signal detected on the surface of a planetary body other than our home planet and moon. We have NASA's Martian InSight lander to thank. The lander has been listening for quakes that could shed...

'Flawless': Spacecraft Hits Martian Target
InSight Shares
First Photos of Mars
Nov 27, 2018 9:55 AM CST

InSight Shares First Photos of Mars

It could be months before we get more data

(Newser) - By space standards, it was a bull's-eye. Minutes after touching down on Mars on Monday, NASA's InSight spacecraft sent back a snapshot of its new digs, a dust-speckled image that looked like a work of art to scientists, revealing a mostly smooth and sandy terrain around the spacecraft...

Screams, Applause, Laughter as Spacecraft Lands on Mars

The three-legged InSight spacecraft traveled 300M miles

(Newser) - A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere. Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their seats and erupted...

NASA Unveils Next Mars Mission

InSight lander will look deep inside red planet

(Newser) - As Curiosity begins its work on the surface of Mars , NASA has unveiled plans to study the red planet's interior. The agency aims to send the InSight robotic lander to Mars in 2016 to detect "marsquakes," determine whether the planet's core is solid or liquid, and...

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