Mars mission InSight

The Mars mission InSight is landed on 26 November 2018. With InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), the geophysical properties of Mars will be investigated.

The 'mole' will hammer the Martian surface approximately 10,000 times, inserting a tether with temperature sensors into the planet’s surface to a depth never before reached on the Red Planet.  A radiometer on the instrument will also determine and monitor the surface temperature at the landing site. The DLR researchers will then be able to derive the planetary heat flow from the acquired surface and underground temperature data. The DLR instrument is operated by the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC) in Cologne.

The „Virtual Control Room“ is a feature on the DLR Website, where you have access to some telemetry data for the Missions InSight coming straight from the control rooms of the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC).

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The final news about InSight mission

11.4.19- Tests for the InSight 'Mole' A blue box, a cubic metre of Mars-like sand, a rock, a fully-functional model of the Mars 'Mole' and a seismometer – these are the main components with which the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is simulating the current situation on Mars. After its first hammering operation on 28 February 2019, the DLR Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP³), the Mars Mole, was only able to drive itself about 30 centimetres into the Martian subsurface. DLR planetary researchers and engineers are now analysing how this could have happened and looking into what measures could be taken to remedy the situation. Read more

3.10.19 -InSight mission – a fresh attempt for the first ‘Mole’ on Mars Only five centimetres of the Mars ‘Mole’ are still protruding above the planet’s surface, and it is thought that it could have initially driven itself as much as 35 centimetres into the subsurface. A small crater has formed around the shaft, with the result that the small penetrometer is experiencing insufficient friction against its exterior to be able to move deeper. Initial attempts to fill this ‘Mole hole’ using the arm of the InSight lander and its shovel have failed due to the strength of the surface crust. Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are now making a new attempt. They are planning to press the Mole sideways against the crater wall using the scoop of the robotic arm in order to give it enough traction and friction to burrow deeper into the surface. Read more

6.11.19 - The Mars Mole and the challenging ground of the Red Planet NASA's InSight mission landed on Mars in November 2018. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is involved in the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) experiment. In addition to a radiometer for measuring the surface temperature, the core component of the experiment is the Mars 'Mole' – a 40-centimetre-long penetrometer designed to measure the heat flow from the Martian interior at a depth of several metres. In February 2019, the Mole began hammering. It got stuck at first, but with the help of InSight's robotic arm it was able to penetrate almost completely into the Martian surface in October 2019. Without the additional support from the arm's scoop, it then began a sudden retreat which has led to almost half of the Mole protruding from the Martian regolith. Read more

11.04.19 - Tests for the InSight 'Mole' A blue box, a cubic metre of Mars-like sand, a rock, a fully-functional model of the Mars 'Mole' and a seismometer – these are the main components with which the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is simulating the current situation on Mars. After its first hammering operation on 28 February 2019, the DLR Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP³), the Mars Mole, was only able to drive itself about 30 centimetres into the Martian subsurface. Read more

5.3.19 -InSight mission: the Mars ‘Mole’ takes a break As part of NASA’s InSight mission, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) developed a penetrometer designed to dig three to five metres below the surface of Mars and measure the heat emanating from the planet’s interior. After the Mars ‘Mole’ began hammering into the ground on Thursday 28 February, the probe, which is part of DLR’s HP3 (Heat and Physical Properties Package) instrument, came about three-quarters of the way out of its housing structure before stopping. Data also suggests that the 'Mole' is at a 15-degree tilt. Read more

1.3.19 - „Good luck ‘Mole’ – DLR’s HP3 experiment starts hammering into the Martian soil

05.03.19 - InSight mission: the Mars ‘Mole’ takes a break

13.02.19 - InSight mission – DLR 'Mole' deployed on surface of Mars

21.12.18 - Exploration of the interior of Mars begins

26.11.2018 - Mars mole HP3 arrives at the Red Planet

26.11.2018 - Mission InSight - Video: flight over InSight's landing site on Elysium Planitia

19.11.18 - DLR's HP3 Mole on board NASA's InSight mission soon to land on Mars

05.05.2018 - NASA InSight probe launched with DLR experiment on board

03.05.2018 - Weltweit erstmals wird sich DLR-Experiment vollautomatisch fünf Meter tief in den Marsboden graben

02.03.2018 - DLR 'Mole' HP³ and its spacecraft transported to their launch site

09.12.16 - 3D simulation as a helping hand for the Martian mole

02.09.16 - Green light for InSight and Mars 'mole'

09.03.16 - InSight mission's journey to Mars set for 2018

Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3)