Solar System

Marsquake Reveals Molten Layer Above Martian Core

An impact far from NASA's Insight lander on Mars set off seismic waves that revealed new details about the Martian interior.

Space Missions

NASA's Mars Insight Reaches End of Mission

NASA's groundbreaking Insight lander on Mars has fallen silent.

SEIS

Solar System

NASA's InSight Lander Finds Tropical Mars Is Dry

Evidence for water ice exists at the poles of Mars and even at mid-latitudes, but new evidence shows equatorial Mars is dry. The find has implications for past habitability and future human missions to Mars.

Mars InSight

Solar System

NASA's Insight Lander Detects Monster Marsquake

NASA’s Mars Insight lander witnessed the largest quake detected on another world at just the right time — as the lander begins to run low on power.

Mars interior

Solar System

NASA's Insight Reveals First Look Inside Mars

The Insight mission science team has used about 10 deep marsquakes to take stock of the planet's anatomy.

Juno Insight

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

NASA Extends Juno, InSight Missions

NASA has granted two key planetary missions extensions, so InSight and Juno will continue to return data from Mars and Jupiter, respectively, for years to come.

InSight

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

Mars "Mole" Is in the Ground (Again)

After months of careful work, NASA's Insight mission has its mole burrowed in the Martian soil.

Insight lander on Mars

Space Missions

NASA’s Insight Detects Many Marsquakes on the Red Planet

Persistent tremors on Mars suggest the planet’s interior is cooling and hint that there might be a pocket of magma beneath the surface.

Mars Mole

Solar System

Work to Save NASA's "Mole" on Mars Continues

NASA engineers hope to use the scoop at the end of the lander's robotic arm to get the Insight lander's heat probe burrowing once again.

HP3 cropped

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

A Strategy to Get the Mars Insight Lander Back in the Drilling Business

Insight's robotic arm has uncovered the lander's "mole," as NASA and German aerospace engineers work to get it drilling once again.

Seismometer on NASA's Insight lander

Solar System

What the First Marsquake Means for NASA's Insight

After two months, InSight’s seismometer has picked up the first rumblings in Martian soil. Turns out marsquakes may be less frequent than thought.

Insight Mars

Space Missions

Mars Insight's "Mole" Hits a Snag

Drilling operations for NASA's Mars Insight Lander have been put on hold as the "mole" has hit unexpected obstacles.

Mars Insight

Space Missions

Insight Lander Touches Down on Mars

After a safe landing, NASA's first dedicated geophysical mission to Mars will spend the next two years studying the deep interior of the Red Planet. 

Exoplanet-hunting TESS spacecraft

Space Missions

Looking Ahead: Space Exploration in 2017

An exciting year lies ahead for spaceflight involving astronomy and planetary science — by NASA and by other spacefaring nations.