Displaying items by tag: InSight lander

InSight is a Mars lander mission planned by NASA for launch in 2016. The name stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.

The mission's objective is to place a stationary lander equipped with a seismometer and heat flow probe on the surface of Mars to study its early geological evolution. This would bring new understanding of the Solar System's terrestrial planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars — and Earth's Moon. By reusing technology from the Mars Phoenix lander, which successfully landed on Mars in 2008, it is expected that the cost and risk will be reduced.

InSight was initially known as GEMS (Geophysical Monitoring Station), but changed its name in early 2012 at the request of NASA.