INSIGHT MISSION NEWS | May 10, 2022

NASA to Provide Update on InSight Mars Lander

Scheduled for May 17, 2022 - NASA InSight Still Hunting Marsquakes as Power Runs Down (News Audio + Visuals): In November 2018, NASA InSight landed in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars with the goal of studying the planet’s deep interior for the first time by using seismic signals to learn more about the properties of the planet’s crust, mantle, and core. Join us live at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET/1800 UTC) on May 17 as agency leadership and mission team members highlight the spacecraft’s science accomplishments, share details on its power situation, and discuss its future.

NASA and InSight leaders will share the latest on the pioneering spacecraft’s science findings and discuss future milestones for the mission.

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) on Tuesday, May 17, to provide an update on the agency’s InSight Mars lander. NASA leadership and mission team members will highlight InSight’s science accomplishments, share details on the spacecraft’s power situation, and discuss its future.

Audio of the briefing, as well as supporting graphics, will livestream at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

The teleconference participants will include:

Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
Kathya Zamora Garcia, InSight deputy project manager, JPL

The public can submit questions on social media during the teleconference using #AskNASA.

InSight landed in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars in November 2018 with the goal of studying the planet’s deep interior for the first time, using seismic signals to learn more about the properties of the crust, mantle, and core. Answering these questions helps shed light on how all rocky worlds form, including Earth and its Moon.

After InSight met the goals of its two-year-long prime mission, NASA extended the mission until December 2022. However, due to dust accumulation on its solar panels, InSight’s electrical power production is dropping, and the mission is unlikely to continue operations for the duration of its current extended mission unless its solar panels are cleared by a passing “dust devil” in Mars’ atmosphere.

Visuals to accompany the teleconference will be available shortly before it starts at:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/insight-update-telecon

News Media Contacts

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Karolyn Pearson / Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
303-931-6381 / 818-393-2433
karolyn.j.pearson@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov