NASA's InSight Mission to Mars

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In August 2012, around the same time that Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, NASA announced a new mission to Mars. This new mission is called InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) and has a planned launch date of March 2016.

InSight will place a single lander on Mars in September 2016 with the capability of studying deep below the surface of the planet for a two year mission.

The lander will measure the seismology and internal temperature of planet Mars at varying levels. It will be able to determine whether Mars has a solid or liquid core and ascertain why Mars does not have tectonic plates similar to Earth. Understanding these facets of Mars as compared to Earth will provide insight into the formation of the other rocky planets in our inner solar system, including Earth, Venus, and Mercury.

An artist's rendition of proposed InSight Lander.
Source: NASA/JPL

InSight will be an international collaboration, with one of its four instruments coming from France's space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and another from the German Aerospace Center.  

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The Airline Precedent for Space Funding

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Popular airlines Spirit in the US and Ryanair in Europe have been gaining millions in ad revenue for years by renting empty spaces on and in their aircraft. How does that work? Simple, they set a price and say "Hey, if you pay us $14 million we'll put your logo on the outside of all of our aircraft for a year." They even sell space inside the cabin. According to USA Today they charge "$196,000 for three months of ads on the overhead bins in Spirit's planes, $119,000 for ads on the tray tables or $18,500 for ads on air-sickness bags." The airlines get extra money and the advertisers get more exposure. The problem is that all those ads annoy passengers who don't like being inundated with ads while inside of a plane: one of the last 'safe havens' from the outside world. So while airlines and ad companies are happy, the customers are not.

Selling ad space on and in aircraft may or may not work out because the customers don't like being inundated on planes, but what about on spacecraft? While NASA might have nearly insurmountable restrictions on spacecraft advertising, what about the private industry? What is to stop SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, or any other private space company from renting space on, or in their spacecraft?


How many people follow every space launch? How much exposure and publicity would a company get if they had their logo on the outside of a spacecraft? How much would a company pay for to advertise on one launch? In order to find out we can look back at past advertisements in space.

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The Importance of Mars Rover Opportunity's New Mission

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A few days ago Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity finally reached Odyssey Crater, which lies within the much larger Endeavour Crater. This is a huge milestone for the Mars rover, which has performed longer and traveled further on the Martian surface than anyone would have though possible when it landed in January 2004.

The question now is, what is so significant about Endeavour Crater? Why has Mars Rover Opportunity spent the last three years trying to get there? NASA and other people following the mission are excited, but the average person probably has no idea why. How is Mars Rover Opportunity's new location any different than its previous ones? What is its mission?

Endeavour Crater

Endeavour Crater is the largest crater ever explored by Mars Rover Opportunity and contains older geological deposits than it has ever encountered. This will allow Opportunity to get a better sense of how long there was water on the Martian surface and will even provide insight as to the quantity. That is simple enough; as the Mars rover did that in other craters as well; what is exceptional about Endeavour Crater is found around its rim.

What Makes This Mission Different


Mars Rover Opportunity has examined a large number of rocks and samples of Martian soil since it landed in January of 2004, but it has never encountered rocks like those found around Endeavour Crater. In the past Opportunity has examined clays that show signs of being formed under wet conditions, but when the Mars rover determined their chemical composition it was determined that they were very acidic. What makes Endeavour crater different is the composition of the clays surrounding it.

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