The InSight mission has two major goals, each with several science investigations, designed to help uncover the process that shaped all of the rocky planets in the inner solar system.

To understand how rocky planets formed and evolved, InSight will study the interior structure and processes of Mars by determining:

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  • The size of the core, what it is made of, and whether it is liquid or solid.
  • The thickness and structure of the crust.
  • The structure of the mantle and what it is made of.
  • How warm the interior is and how much heat is still flowing through.

InSight will figure out just how tectonically active Mars is today, and how often meteorites impact it. For this, it will measure:

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  • How powerful and frequent internal seismic activity is on Mars, and where it is located within the structure of the planet.
  • How often meteorites impact the surface of Mars.