Are You an InSight Expert?

NASA's Mars InSight Lander Ends Mission After Four Years on the Red Planet

• NASA's InSight lander on Mars has retired after spending four years on the Red Planet.
• InSight is a spacecraft that rests on the surface of an object in space and differs from the other robots NASA currently has on Mars, Curiosity and Perseverance, which are rovers.
• InSight studied the different layers of Mars, including the crust and the hot core at the center of the planet, and used a seismometer to track the movement of the planet, called marsquakes.
• InSight's data has told scientists that the Red Planet's crust has two different layers, a top layer about 6 miles thick and a second, deeper layer about 25 miles thick, and that the core of Mars is much larger than expected.
• One instrument on the lander, nicknamed "the mole," was meant to hammer itself down 16 feet and measure how much heat is rising from the deep core of Mars, but it got stuck near the surface.
• The spacecraft got its power from solar panels, but the Red Planet's dust piled up on the solar panels, preventing sunlight from hitting the panels and the lander from using any electricity.
• Dust also fills the skies during seasonal storms, which means less sunlight reaches the surface, putting an end to InSight's mission.
• InSight's retirement was announced on December 21, 2022, and NASA does not expect to hear anything more from the robot after it missed two calls home.
• Despite some experiments not working as planned, InSight gave scientists a better view of inside Mars than they have ever had before.
• InSight's data broke some of the models of the core, which is a real advance in science.
• The lander's retirement does not detract from the fact that it has been an amazing spacecraft that has done everything that NASA has asked it to do and more.
• InSight's retirement means it will sit on Mars and enjoy the Martian sunsets for a while.

"Test Your Knowledge on NASA's InSight Lander and Its Mission on Mars" - How much do you know about the InSight lander and its groundbreaking discoveries on the Red Planet? Take this quiz to challenge your knowledge on the layers of Mars, marsquakes, the "the mole" instrument, power challenges, and more. Impress your friends with your knowledge of NASA's latest mission to Mars!