Washington, DC, November 26, 2018: Explore Mars, Inc. congratulates NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as Lockheed Martin with the successful landing on Mars earlier today of the Mars InSight (“Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) spacecraft.
InSight was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5, 2018, and traveled approximately 300 million miles to the Red Planet. It will be the first mission to study the crust, mantle, and core of Mars to investigate the origins of rocky, terrestrial planets.
“We hope that the successful landing of InSight will mark the start of yet another remarkable chapter in NASA’s Mars Exploration Program,” stated Explore Mars CEO, Chris Carberry. “As InSight begins to answer questions about the geologic past of Mars, it will also help to pave the way for eventual human missions to Mars.”
InSight will drill down to a depth of 16 feet (5 meters) and use an array of highly advanced sensors to determine whether the Martian core is liquid or solid, the thickness of the Martian crust, and the temperature (heat flow) of the Martian interior. InSight will also investigate seismic activity on Mars and how frequently Mars is impacted by meteorites.
According to Explore Mars President, Artemis Westenberg “After waiting for so many years to see this science station sitting on the surface of Mars, today’s successful landing of InSight brings with it the hope that we will soon have answers to many of our questions about the interior of Mars. We look forward to some very exciting discoveries in the months ahead.”
About Explore Mars
Explore Mars was created to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades. To further that goal, Explore Mars conducts programs and technical challenges to stimulate the development and/or improvement of technologies that will make human Mars missions more efficient and feasible. In addition, to embed the idea of Mars as a habitable planet, Explore Mars challenges educators to use Mars in the classroom as a tool to teach standard STEM curricula. Explore Mars, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation organized in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
