Artist rendition of the proposed InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Lander. The mission will launch in 2016.
Artist rendition of the formation of rocky bodies in the solar system - how they form and differentiate and evolve into terrestrial planets.
This still from a NASA animation shows the InSight Mars lander as it lowers a seismic sensor to the Martian surface in order to study the planet's interior.
The InSight Mars lander lowers a protective cover over the seismic sensor used to dig into the Martian surface in this animation still.
A drill is lowered onto the Martian surface by NASA's new InSight Mars Lander to study the planet's interior in this animation still.
Artist's concept of the interior of Mars shows a hot liquid core that is about one-half the radius of the planet. The core is mostly made of iron with some possible lighter elements such as sulfur. The mantle is the darker material between the core and the thin crust.
This diagram shows the depths at which high pressures cause certain minerals to transform to higher-density crystal structures inside Earth, Mars and the moon.
InSight Mission to Mars logo.
