At Last! NASA Found What it Was Looking For on Mars | InSight Probe Supercut

00:35:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmkRrtfY6VI

Sintesi

TLDRNASA's Insight mission was a monumental journey to explore Mars' interior and its seismic activity. Launched in May 2018 from California, Insight landed on the Martian surface in November of the same year. The mission aimed to use seismic vibrations to map Mars' inside and verify theories about its crust, mantle, and core. Insight faced numerous challenges, including a malfunction of the "Mole" tool meant to burrow into the Martian soil and issues with power due to dust-covered solar panels. Despite these obstacles, Insight made significant contributions to our understanding of Mars. It provided valuable data on Mars' seismic activities, revealing that Mars experiences frequent quakes, albeit not very strong, and showed its core to be less dense and larger than expected. Insight's discoveries have reshaped scientific perspectives on Mars' geological history and are vital for planning future missions. Sadly, Insight had to power down as dust accumulation crippled its solar panels, but its legacy continues through the immense data it gathered.

Punti di forza

  • 🚀 Insight was launched on May 5, 2018, and landed on Mars on November 26, 2018.
  • 🌌 The mission aimed to study Mars' inner structure through seismic vibrations.
  • 🌪 The "Mole" digging tool failed to dig due to lack of soil friction.
  • 🔍 Insight mapped Mars' core, mantle, and revealed its crust to be thinner than expected.
  • ⚡ Dust on solar panels reduced Insight's power, causing it to eventually shut down.
  • 🌎 Insight's findings aid future Mars missions.
  • 🛰 Insight detected over 500 seismic events, increasing knowledge of Mars' quakes.
  • 🔬 The core is larger and less dense than expected, with lighter elements.
  • 🌬 Innovative methods were used to clean solar panels, extending Insight's mission.
  • 🌄 Insight's data suggested a dynamic early Mars, with implications for habitability.

Linea temporale

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Insight was launched on May 5, 2018, on an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, tasked with studying Mars's interior by monitoring seismic vibrations. Despite historical failures with seismometers on prior Mars missions, the launch went ahead after addressing a vacuum leak. Insight is designed to map Mars' inner structure and study its climate using various scientific instruments, including a seismometer, weather sensors, and a 'Mole' for underground temperature readings. It began its journey to Mars, facing challenges associated with launching and landing rockets.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    After a quiet 6.5-month trip through space, Insight's entry into the Martian atmosphere was tumultuous. It employed heat shields, a parachute, and onboard rockets to land safely on Mars on November 26, 2018. Dust from the landing posed a threat to its solar panels, which required 16 minutes for the dust to settle before deployment. Insight, designed for a two-year mission, was immobile, set to study its environment and conduct scientific experiments. Two cube satellites followed Insight, relaying landing success back to Earth in a pioneering deep-space communication technology trial.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Upon landing, Insight sent a distorted image due to dust, quickly beginning scientific operations. Unique data, including Martian wind and atmospheric recordings, were collected. A key mission goal was deploying the SEIS seismometer using its robotic arm, which required careful placement to avoid rocks and maximize accuracy. After extensive 3D imaging and Earth-site replication, the SEIS was eventually deployed, allowing for seismic data collection. However, attempts to utilize the Mole for digging and temperature sampling encountered unexpected issues, challenging scientists' problem-solving.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Insight's Mole faced technical challenges, failing to dig due to Mars' unexpected soil composition, particularly a layer of duricrust that inhibited necessary friction. After several months of attempts to solve the problem, including adjusting the robotic arm's interaction with the Mole, efforts were abandoned. Meanwhile, Insight provided valuable seismic data, detecting over 500 events and offering insights into Mars's seismic activity and internal structure. Despite challenges, InSight's main mission continued as it gathered significant data on Martian weather and seismic activity.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Insight's mission faced difficulties as its solar panels began losing power due to dust accumulation, reducing power intake significantly by February 2021. As Mars approached winter and aphelion, scientists decided to put Insight into hibernation to conserve energy for essential functions. Despite this, it successfully awakened in spring but continued to struggle with power. However, NASA extended its mission due to the valuable data collected, and innovative attempts to clean the panels slightly improved energy levels. In its extended life, Insight detected major Marsquakes, pushing the limits of its capabilities.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:35:03

    As InSight approached the end of its mission in late 2022, it completed an unprecedented volume of research on Mars’s geology and weather, confirming the planet’s crust, mantle, and core compositions. Surprising insights, such as a thinner crust and a molten core consisting of lighter elements than anticipated, revised many scientific hypotheses. It discovered Mars’ dynamo effect has long since ceased, affecting theories on Mars' ancient magnetic field and potential for life. Despite ending its mission, Insight left a legacy influencing future Mars research.

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Video Domande e Risposte

  • What was the main goal of the Insight mission?

    The main goal of the Insight mission was to study Mars' inner structure through seismic vibrations and other data to understand more about the formation of rocky planets.

  • When did Insight launch and land on Mars?

    Insight launched on May 5, 2018, and successfully landed on Mars on November 26, 2018.

  • What challenges did Insight face during its mission?

    Insight faced several challenges, including the failure of the 'Mole' digging tool to go deep into Martian soil due to lack of friction, and dust accumulation on its solar panels which reduced power generation.

  • How long was Insight's mission initially expected to last?

    Insight's mission was initially expected to last for two years.

  • How did Insight contribute to our understanding of Mars?

    Insight provided data on Mars' seismic activity, core and mantle structure, and weather patterns, revealing unexpected details like the composition of the core and the thinness of the crust.

  • What unusual technique was used to clear dust from Insight's solar panels?

    Scientists used Insight's robotic arm to sprinkle sand onto the solar panels. The Martian wind then used this sand to help remove dust and improve power efficiency.

  • What was a significant discovery by Insight related to Mars' quake activities?

    One significant discovery was the detection of Mars' largest quake, a magnitude 5, which helped shed light on the planet's seismic activity despite the lack of tectonic plates.

  • Did Insight's 'Mole' tool succeed in its mission?

    No, the 'Mole' tool couldn't penetrate the Martian soil deeper than 30cm, failing to achieve its intended depth due to lack of soil friction.

  • How did Insight's mission end?

    Insight's mission ended as dust accumulation on its solar panels led to reduced power availability, ultimately causing it to power down.

  • What impact did Insight's findings have on future Mars missions?

    Insight's findings on Mars' inner structure and seismic activity are expected to inform and enhance future missions, helping scientists better understand the planet's history and its conditions for potential habitability.

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Scorrimento automatico:
  • 00:00:05
    From its incredible launch on the 5th May 2018,  to the present day as it reached its ultimate
  • 00:00:12
    powering down, Insight has been an incredible  lander. It has peeled back the surface of Mars,
  • 00:00:19
    and listened to the planet’s slow heartbeat  to gain knowledge unseen by any mission that
  • 00:00:24
    has gone on before it. It has faced adversity;  from day one, Mars fought back with an unending
  • 00:00:31
    assault to wear it down, or catch it off guard.  But ultimately, its contributions to our planetary
  • 00:00:38
    understanding are irrefutable. And it did so  with a surprising tool – the planet’s quakes.
  • 00:00:46
    I’m Alex McColgan, and you’re watching  Astrum. Come with me and discover
  • 00:00:50
    how Insight did what it did, as well as  exactly what it learned. In this supercut,
  • 00:00:56
    we will explore the mission  of Insight, as it happened.
  • 00:01:01
    In the early hours of the morning of the 5th of  May, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Space
  • 00:01:07
    Launch Complex 3-E in California, NASA scientists  waited in nervous anticipation at their computers.
  • 00:01:15
    Outside in the darkness stood an Atlas V rocket,  a nearly 60m tall, 2-stage behemoth capable of
  • 00:01:23
    lifting nearly 9000kg into geostationary orbit.  Atlas V rockets like this one have launched dozens
  • 00:01:31
    of times, but it’s impossible not to feel a  degree of nervousness with each new attempt.
  • 00:01:37
    Last time this launch was scheduled, it had to  be pushed by several months because of a vacuum
  • 00:01:42
    leak involving the SEIS instruments in its  cargo. Over half the missions to Mars to this
  • 00:01:48
    date had either never left the ground, or failed  once they arrived on Mars. Even at this stage,
  • 00:01:54
    there is always a chance of something going  wrong. This Atlas V was here to carry Insight;
  • 00:02:00
    a lander tasked with uncovering Mars’ inner  structure by studying seismic vibrations.
  • 00:02:06
    It was not the first lander to attempt this,  but it hoped to be the first one to succeed.
  • 00:02:12
    NASA had sent two prior missions to Mars  with Seismometers; Viking 1 and Viking 2.
  • 00:02:18
    However, Viking 1’s seismometer malfunctioned on  landing and could not deploy, and while Viking
  • 00:02:23
    2’s seismometer did manage to get readings, there  was no way of telling whether what it read was a
  • 00:02:29
    seismic vibration, or just the wind. This degree  of uncertainty made its readings less reliable.
  • 00:02:35
    With Insight, NASA would attempt to close  this potential source of error. The signal
  • 00:02:41
    came. The scientists received their last weather  reports. Launching a rocket is a risky business.
  • 00:02:46
    Wind-speed, cloud coverage, even solar weather  can negatively influence a launch. All must be
  • 00:02:54
    accounted for. But here, they were given the green  light. Insight would be launched within the hour.
  • 00:03:01
    Insight is a metre-high, 6m-long  lander sporting two large solar panels,
  • 00:03:06
    in a similar design to the Phoenix lander. It  comes equipped with multiple instruments for
  • 00:03:12
    scientific research. It carries a seismometer  with a windshield, and a robotic arm that
  • 00:03:17
    will place the sensitive instrument onto  the flat surface of the Martian planet.
  • 00:03:21
    With this it will detect the vibrations  caused by quakes in the Martian mantle,
  • 00:03:26
    or by meteor impacts. Through careful evaluation  of the time delay between the various kinds of
  • 00:03:32
    seismic waves from a single event, it will be  possible for scientists to piece together Mars’
  • 00:03:37
    inner structure with a greater degree of certainty  than ever before. But that is not all. Attached is
  • 00:03:44
    a suite of weather-sensing equipment, to eliminate  any debate as to the source of the vibrations it
  • 00:03:49
    was detecting, not to mention helping scientists  to better understand the climate on Mars.
  • 00:03:56
    And to give it an even greater understanding of  the state of Mars beneath its surface, it carries
  • 00:04:01
    a “Mole” – a hammer-powered digging tool intended  to burrow deep down into the Martian soil and take
  • 00:04:07
    temperature readings. A large drill would not be  economical to carry, so this was thought to be
  • 00:04:13
    a more efficient design. The better we understand  the structure of Mars, the more we can learn about
  • 00:04:19
    its formation. And with it, the formation of other  rocky planets in our solar system - like our own.
  • 00:04:26
    With InSight, we hope to learn if Earth  is an anomaly in the Solar system.
  • 00:04:31
    Are many of the other planets like us?  What does this say about our formation?
  • 00:04:37
    And so, at around 4 o clock in the morning,  Insight launched for Mars. Causing bone-crushing
  • 00:04:44
    g-forces, the first stage of the rocket burned for  just 253 seconds before its fuel was expended and
  • 00:04:51
    it detached. Then the second stage – Centaur –  kicked in. This burned for another 14 minutes,
  • 00:04:58
    which was enough time to reach escape velocity.  Insight had been built to resist the strain. This
  • 00:05:06
    first stage was a success, but now it would be  time for the long trip through space. It would
  • 00:05:11
    take another 6 ½ months to travel across the 484  million km between Earth and Mars. These months
  • 00:05:19
    would be quiet, serene, and cold, as it drifts  through the star-studded vastness of space.
  • 00:05:26
    Insight’s arrival on Mars would be quite  the opposite experience. It would be fast,
  • 00:05:31
    hectic, and hot. Insight entered the  atmosphere 125km up at almost 20,000kmph.
  • 00:05:40
    This entry generated a lot of heat, roughly 1500c.  Fortunately, Insight’s final stage came with heat
  • 00:05:49
    shields which were able to absorb this blistering  fury. And once the lander slowed down enough,
  • 00:05:54
    the heatshields popped off and a supersonic  parachute deployed, further slowing InSight
  • 00:06:00
    down. Yes, Mars does have an atmosphere, although  it is very thin compared to Earth’s standards.
  • 00:06:07
    With the speed InSight was travelling though,  this parachute still made a big difference,
  • 00:06:12
    although it wouldn’t be enough by itself to  stop the lander from smashing into the planet.
  • 00:06:18
    But fortunately, Insight had planned for this.  Unlike the Mars rovers which just had giant
  • 00:06:23
    airbags to bounce on landing, this spacecraft  came equipped with its own rockets to land.
  • 00:06:29
    So, InSight’s legs sprang into  position, ready for landing.
  • 00:06:34
    Once the parachute slowed it down enough, that  too popped off, leaving just the lander itself.
  • 00:06:40
    It then used its onboard rockets to carefully  reach the surface. This whole process took place
  • 00:06:46
    over the course of about 7 minutes. It touched  down successfully on the 26th November 2018.
  • 00:06:54
    Upon impact with the surface, the rockets kicked  up a lot of dust. This is not very good for
  • 00:06:59
    solar panels. So, InSight waited 16 mins before  deploying its solar array to let the dust settle.
  • 00:07:06
    This impressive unfurling can be seen in this  testing environment before it launched. On Mars,
  • 00:07:13
    these panels generate around 300-600 watts under  normal conditions. However, dust in the atmosphere
  • 00:07:19
    does affect power generation, as clouds would  on Earth, so this can be different every day.
  • 00:07:26
    Let’s pause now, and take a look around.  The view that greeted InSight seems bleak
  • 00:07:32
    and inhospitable, but it would need to  get used to it – this rock-strewn, flat,
  • 00:07:37
    dusty terrain would be its home  for at least the next two years.
  • 00:07:42
    Now, Insight was intended to be a 2-year mission.  Unlike rovers, it had no tools for moving itself
  • 00:07:49
    around. But that would not be necessary to  fulfil its purpose. Its mission was to sit,
  • 00:07:54
    listen, and learn. It had a lot of work to  do. Insight’s mission to Mars had begun.
  • 00:08:05
    Far above the thin Martian atmosphere,  a strange new sight had arrived.
  • 00:08:10
    Two little lights twinkled in the night sky. These  were not new stars; they were cube sats, called
  • 00:08:17
    Marco A and B, and they had been following Insight  for the last several months. Their mission was to
  • 00:08:23
    relay real-time information back to Earth about  whether the landing had been successful or not,
  • 00:08:28
    and if the solar cells had deployed. The Marco  mission was a technology demonstration mission,
  • 00:08:34
    so it didn’t have scientific instruments, but  rather it carried different technologies to test.
  • 00:08:40
    These satellites were really small, only the size  of a briefcase. They were the first time cubesats
  • 00:08:47
    have been sent into deep space, and at the time,  no-one was sure how well they would do. But so
  • 00:08:53
    far, they had performed exactly as hoped for. The  Marcos began listening out for UHF frequencies
  • 00:08:59
    from InSight with the antenna on the bottom  of the spacecraft, ready to transmit that data
  • 00:09:04
    back to Earth using this bigger antenna. The big  antenna operates like a satellite dish on Earth,
  • 00:09:10
    except they designed it to be flat so it can be  space efficient. Amazingly, these satellites only
  • 00:09:16
    generate 17 watts of power, yet are still able  to receive signals from the surface of Mars and
  • 00:09:22
    transmit millions of kilometres back to Earth. Of  course, NASA was not going to put all their eggs
  • 00:09:29
    in one untested basket. If Marco A and B hadn’t  worked, Insight would also be able to communicate
  • 00:09:35
    with some of the other orbits already around Mars,  like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The only
  • 00:09:40
    difference is that the MRO can’t relay information  back in real-time. These lights would not be in
  • 00:09:48
    the sky for long, though. After performing their  mission, the Marco cubesats would fly by Mars,
  • 00:09:54
    unable to slow down enough to enter orbit, and  instead go on to forever drift around the Sun.
  • 00:10:01
    But that is not what Insight sees. Insight does  not know the fate of the machines that broadcast
  • 00:10:06
    its messages. All it knows is that it’s time to  open its eyes… and maybe call to mission control
  • 00:10:12
    to let them know it arrived at its destination OK.  The first thing InSight did was send back signals
  • 00:10:19
    to Earth that it has touched down safely. Along  with that signal comes its first famous image.
  • 00:10:26
    This first image is a little messy. As previously  mentioned, a lot of dust had been kicked up by
  • 00:10:32
    the landing, as InSight used descent rockets to  slow its fall. Fortunately, Insight’s team knew
  • 00:10:38
    this would happen and attached a transparent  lens over Insight’s camera to protect it.
  • 00:10:43
    Later, Insight would remove this lens, to take  clearer pictures for the rest of the mission.
  • 00:10:48
    Meanwhile, another camera pointing under the  lander revealed the effects of the rockets,
  • 00:10:53
    which had carved out mini craters under the craft.  InSight deployed its two circular solar panels,
  • 00:11:01
    now that it could collect sunlight  without dust reducing its efficiency.
  • 00:11:06
    From then on, it was time to work. InSight quickly  began collecting data, even before deploying any
  • 00:11:13
    of its science instruments. The first thing  it recorded was the Martian wind, picking
  • 00:11:18
    up vibrations sensed by the seismometer still on  the lander. This is what it sounds like, although
  • 00:11:25
    I should note that you will probably either  need a subwoofer or headphones to hear this.
  • 00:11:35
    This has not been sped up, these literally  are the vibrations caused by Martian wind
  • 00:11:45
    going over the solar panels of the lander, the  frequency of the vibrations converted to audio.
  • 00:11:51
    For the benefit of those who can’t hear  it, here is it pitched up two octaves.
  • 00:12:15
    InSight can also detect changes in air pressure.
  • 00:12:22
    Here is the air pressure changing  as the wind blows across the lander.
  • 00:12:28
    This audio has been sped up by a factor of  100 for it to be within human hearing range.
  • 00:12:38
    What is fascinating is that we don’t have  to just imagine the wind passing by InSight,
  • 00:12:43
    as it was also able to capture footage  of water ice clouds passing by overhead,
  • 00:12:48
    visibly showing the direction of the wind. Yes,  although Mars is currently a barren wasteland,
  • 00:12:55
    there is still a tiny amount of  water vapour in the atmosphere.
  • 00:13:00
    Now limbered up, its warm-up science done,  Insight was ready for the main event.
  • 00:13:05
    One of its primary missions on Mars was to listen  out for seismic activity. But its seismometer
  • 00:13:12
    (SEIS) was still strapped down on Insight’s body.  It would need to use its robotic arm to lift its
  • 00:13:18
    SEIS instrument and place it directly onto the  Martian soil. But not just anywhere would do.
  • 00:13:23
    If it was going to settle in for a long two  years of listening, Insight wanted to choose
  • 00:13:29
    the best patch of ground. Something flat, with  no rocks in the way, so its windshield could lie
  • 00:13:35
    flush with the ground and provide a perfect sound  barrier, providing a means for SEIS to collect its
  • 00:13:40
    data uninterrupted. And it had a team to help it.  Almost immediately after landing, InSight started
  • 00:13:48
    taking 3D images of its surrounding area in order  to find the perfect spot to place the seismometer.
  • 00:13:54
    Based on those 3D images, NASA actually recreated  this area as accurately as possible back on Earth,
  • 00:14:01
    even going as far as using the Hololens  augmented reality headset to match up the
  • 00:14:06
    surface of Mars with the environment they were  recreating. Once the perfect site was chosen,
  • 00:14:12
    the go-ahead was given, and InSight carefully  used its robotic arm to place the seismometer
  • 00:14:18
    on the surface of the planet. From there, it  began detecting Mars’ faintest vibrations.
  • 00:14:25
    Then it was time for the mole. And it  was here that things started to go wrong.
  • 00:14:31
    Insight’s Mole was a piton-shaped self-digging  tool designed to dig up to 5m down into the
  • 00:14:37
    Martian soil, taking temperature readings every  10cm, and then extrapolating these readings to
  • 00:14:43
    estimate the thickness of the Martian crust. A  drill that could go this deep would have been
  • 00:14:47
    too large and unwieldy to bring to Mars. The  Mole’s internal hammer would get around this
  • 00:14:53
    problem. By hammering itself gently into the  soil, and having the dust of Mars fall into the
  • 00:14:59
    hole it was forming to provide it with friction,  Insight’s mole could in theory reach the 5m depth.
  • 00:15:06
    Insight’s mole had been tested in conditions  recreated to be as similar to Mars’ dusty surface
  • 00:15:12
    as possible. Only, on Mars itself, it wouldn’t  dig. Unfortunately, the mole only got 30cm
  • 00:15:20
    into the dry soil of mars before getting stuck.  Scientists back on Earth scratched their heads.
  • 00:15:26
    Had it hit a very hard rock? Or was the soil  simply not providing enough friction? Either way,
  • 00:15:32
    the mole was now stuck – titled at an angle  before it had even fully exited its housing.
  • 00:15:39
    Earth-based teams attempted to replicate the  problem and look for a safe way to pick up the
  • 00:15:44
    housing around the mole, and maybe use the  robotic arm to straighten its course. They
  • 00:15:49
    had to be careful not to damage it, though, as the  robotic arm had not been designed for such a task.
  • 00:15:55
    After many weeks of deliberation, they  split the task, and started removing the
  • 00:16:00
    housing to better see what they were doing.  Carefully, they coaxed off the outer housing.
  • 00:16:06
    But it would be some time before  further progress could be made.
  • 00:16:11
    If friction was the problem, scientists were  considering trying to use the robotic arm to push
  • 00:16:16
    down on the soil right next to the mole, hopefully  giving it the friction it needed to start
  • 00:16:20
    digging deeper. It would take careful planning  before this method could be attempted, though.
  • 00:16:25
    It was July 2019 when the housing was removed – 8  months after Insight’s arrival on the planet. It
  • 00:16:32
    would be another 3 months before their next move  was enacted. Meanwhile, though, things weren’t
  • 00:16:39
    all bad. Back in April, Insight had detected its  first Martian quake. This is what it sounded like.
  • 00:16:55
    Again, the vibrations have been  sped up by a factor of 60 as the
  • 00:16:59
    frequency would not be audible to the human ear.
  • 00:17:07
    While data like this doesn’t need to be  converted to audio for scientists to use it,
  • 00:17:12
    it is useful for us laypeople  so we can better grasp the data.
  • 00:17:19
    What you will notice though is  how sensitive this seismometer is.
  • 00:17:23
    Even under the windshield, it can still  pick up vibrations caused by the wind,
  • 00:17:32
    and even the robotic arm moving can be easily  detected even though it’s a few meters away.
  • 00:17:39
    Detecting seismic activity is not all InSight can  do. InSight was acting a little like a weather
  • 00:17:45
    station on Mars, with instruments detecting wind,  air pressure, and air temperature. As you can see,
  • 00:17:52
    even at the equator Mars is a chilly -25c at its  warmest at the moment, bottoming out at -100c.
  • 00:18:02
    These low temperatures are a threat to any  mechanical Martian mission. The fluctuations
  • 00:18:07
    into freezing cold can cause weathering on  scientific equipment that can quickly break them.
  • 00:18:13
    If it weren’t for onboard heaters powered by  InSight’s solar panels, InSight would have
  • 00:18:18
    already been in big trouble. Insight was also  able to detect some gusts of up to 60kph and
  • 00:18:26
    low air pressures, about 6mbar compared to Earth’s  1bar. With its first readings taken, but also with
  • 00:18:35
    its first obstacles encountered, Insight’s mission  was underway to mixed fanfare. Let us jump forward
  • 00:18:42
    now in time. Months have ticked by. InSight  now approached its first year mark on Mars.
  • 00:18:50
    Scientists had been considering the problem of  Insight’s Mole. By this point, they began to
  • 00:18:55
    be more certain that it was not an underground  rock that had stopped the Mole in its tracks.
  • 00:19:00
    Scientists had chosen this landing site especially  because there were few large rocks in the area,
  • 00:19:05
    and the mole had been designed in such a way that  it should have been able to go around small rocks.
  • 00:19:11
    The team had taken their time to think through  what might be causing the problem, doing their
  • 00:19:16
    best to create a replica of the situation  on Earth using data from Insight’s cameras.
  • 00:19:21
    This isn’t a perfect process, as it’s impossible  to perfectly mimic the lower gravitational
  • 00:19:26
    conditions of Mars on Earth even with replicas  made from scaled-down lighter materials,
  • 00:19:32
    but by October 2019 they had figured out that  the likely problem was indeed a lack of friction.
  • 00:19:40
    When taking photos of the soil around the  now-exposed mole, they saw that the soil
  • 00:19:45
    in this spot was different from what they’d  been expecting. Although the surface you see
  • 00:19:50
    here certainly appears loose and dusty – ideal for  hammer-based digging – only a few inches deeper,
  • 00:19:56
    there appeared to be a layer of cemented soil  known as duricrust. The particles of duricrust
  • 00:20:02
    stick together more tightly, which means they  won’t fall into the hole the mole is creating, and
  • 00:20:08
    thus weren’t providing the friction necessary to  dig deeper. Scientists hadn’t realised that this
  • 00:20:13
    type of soil was here when they picked the site  for landing, as it had been hidden beneath the
  • 00:20:17
    surface. But what to do about it? While Insight  was equipped with a robotic arm, the top of the
  • 00:20:24
    mole was not designed to be grabbed by this arm,  so they couldn’t just move it to another position.
  • 00:20:29
    And as you can see here, there is a delicate  cable designed to relay data from the mole back
  • 00:20:34
    to Insight, which could be damaged if they just  push down on the top of the mole with the arm.
  • 00:20:40
    So, their first plan was to place  the arm next to the digging mole,
  • 00:20:44
    pinning the mole in place. Perhaps this would  provide the friction necessary to get it started.
  • 00:20:50
    Unfortunately, this proved to be not enough. The  Mole floundered in the dust, making no progress.
  • 00:20:57
    Next, the team tried to scoop soil into the  hole the mole had created. This also proved
  • 00:21:03
    unsuccessful. More months tick by, marking  the time between each painstaking attempt.
  • 00:21:10
    Finally, in October 2020, a full year and 8  months after the mole first started trying to dig,
  • 00:21:17
    scientists attempted to push the top of the  mole with the robotic arm. Although this did
  • 00:21:22
    cause the mole to successfully bury itself,  the hopes that this raised were soon dashed.
  • 00:21:28
    Even when completely submerged beneath the ground,  the mole would not go any deeper on its own.
  • 00:21:34
    By 14th of January, 2021, the team  gave up on the mole altogether,
  • 00:21:40
    although they still felt that they’d learned  valuable information for future missions about
  • 00:21:44
    the nature of Martian soils. I think they’ll  have a new respect for duricrust going forward.
  • 00:21:51
    Fortunately, Insight’s other scientific equipment  had been working much more effectively during this
  • 00:21:56
    time. SEIS, the seismometer, was doing a much  better job of providing a glimpse into Mars’s
  • 00:22:02
    inner workings. SEIS had been listening to the  sounds of Mars for over two years by this point,
  • 00:22:08
    and had detected over 500 different seismic  events. Mars does not have tectonic plates
  • 00:22:14
    like Earth does, but it does have volcanic regions  that produce quakes from time to time. And quakes
  • 00:22:20
    produce different types of vibrations, such  as P-waves and S-waves, that travel through
  • 00:22:25
    the mantle at different rates. By timing the  difference between when these waves arrive, and
  • 00:22:31
    listening out for their echoes as the vibrations  bounce off the inner layers of Mars, it becomes
  • 00:22:36
    possible to work out Mars’ internal structure,  as well as learn other fascinating insights.
  • 00:22:43
    Scientists by this point had learned 3  interesting things from all this data.
  • 00:22:48
    First, Mars tends to have frequent, but small,  quakes; none more powerful than magnitude 3.7.
  • 00:22:55
    Scientists were surprised that they’d detected  nothing more powerful given how frequently
  • 00:22:59
    smaller quakes were happening. Perhaps Mars was  more static than was expected? Or perhaps they
  • 00:23:05
    simply haven’t been lucky enough to witness a  big one? It was too early to tell for certain.
  • 00:23:11
    Second, the wind hides quakes. Because SEIS is so  sensitive, even with its windshield it could hear
  • 00:23:18
    the vibrations caused by the wind, and sometimes  this masked the vibrations of small quakes,
  • 00:23:23
    like static on a radio. During the windier parts  of Mars’ yearly cycle, the number of quakes
  • 00:23:29
    appeared to go down, but this was likely  just because SEIS wasn’t detecting them.
  • 00:23:34
    To counter this interference, scientists  formulated a plan to bury parts of the
  • 00:23:38
    seismometer using the robotic arm scoop, as this  might reduce the interference from the wind.
  • 00:23:44
    Finally, and strangely, Martian quakes do not have  surface waves. All quakes create waves. Two of
  • 00:23:53
    the main types – Primary waves and Secondary  waves – travel through the mantle. However,
  • 00:23:57
    normally there are also “surface waves” that  run along the surface of the planet crust, and
  • 00:24:03
    for some reason these were not being detected on  Mars. Scientists are still not quite sure why, but
  • 00:24:10
    wonder if this is evidence of extensive fracturing  of the upper 10 kilometres of Mars’ crust, which
  • 00:24:15
    might be diffusing the waves. To find out more, it  would be necessary to wait and collect more data.
  • 00:24:22
    However, this is more difficult than it sounds.  After two years, time was no longer on Insight’s
  • 00:24:28
    side. Insight had reached the end of its expected  mission duration, and amazingly was internally
  • 00:24:35
    still going strong. However, an external  problem had arisen. Dust. Little by little,
  • 00:24:42
    fleck by fleck, dust had built up on Insight’s two  solar panels – the two solar panels that provided
  • 00:24:48
    life-preserving power to its onboard heaters.  Insight had no machinery to clean its own solar
  • 00:24:54
    panels. Scientists had hoped that dust devils  would blow away this dust in “cleaning events”,
  • 00:24:59
    but although some dust devils had been detected,  so far – by bad luck – none had passed over
  • 00:25:06
    Insight. By February 2021, Insight was now only  collecting 27% of its potential power intake.
  • 00:25:15
    Choked of energy-giving sunlight, Insight was  beginning to feel its age. Its spirit was willing,
  • 00:25:21
    but its power-reserves were weak. Faced with  this, scientists had to navigate a delicate
  • 00:25:27
    juggling act. They needed to decide where to send  Insight’s dwindling power reserves – to the arm,
  • 00:25:33
    to the SEIS reader, the radio, or the  vital heaters that keep Insight alive.
  • 00:25:40
    And by February, Mars was entering its winter  period, as well as “aphelion” – the time in
  • 00:25:46
    Mars’ year when it’s furthest from the sun, and  the furthest from that precious source of power.
  • 00:25:51
    There was only one thing they could decide.  They had to settle Insight down to hibernate,
  • 00:25:57
    using its power mostly to keep its circuitry  safe and warm. They hoped that come July,
  • 00:26:02
    as Mars gets closer to the Sun again, Insight  could bring its other equipment back online.
  • 00:26:07
    Hopefully, a cleaning event would come  along, and the science could continue.
  • 00:26:13
    Spring arrived. Insight awakened from its  hibernation. But as it powered up its scientific
  • 00:26:19
    systems, it still felt weak. The dust on its solar  panels remained, and was only getting thicker.
  • 00:26:26
    Insight was faced with its own mortality – the  growing realisation that it never would get
  • 00:26:30
    better, or be at its prime again. But in spite  of its diminishing power, NASA had been so
  • 00:26:37
    impressed with Insight’s data collection that they  extended Insight’s mission for another two years.
  • 00:26:42
    Insight rose to the task. With limited time left  to it, and the end nearing, it threw itself into
  • 00:26:49
    its task. Up until this point, no quake larger  than a 3.7 mag had been detected. If Insight
  • 00:26:56
    could find something like that, it would be the  crowning jewel in the data it had collected.
  • 00:27:02
    But it wouldn’t be easy lasting long  enough. At the start of the mission,
  • 00:27:06
    Insight’s panels were capable of producing  5000 watt-hours each Martian day. Now,
  • 00:27:12
    they were only producing 500 watt-hours – about  enough to power an electric oven for 10 minutes.
  • 00:27:18
    It was now a race against time to find that last  big quake, before Insight powered down forever.
  • 00:27:26
    Back on Earth, its team had its back. Scientists  were keen to buy Insight that little more time
  • 00:27:32
    that it needed to hopefully find that quake. And  in early June 2021, they struck upon a seemingly
  • 00:27:39
    crazy idea. How could you remove dust from solar  panels, when you only had a large, clunky robotic
  • 00:27:46
    arm with a scoop? Counterintuitively, add  more dust! Specifically, to slowly trickle
  • 00:27:53
    sand down onto the panels using Insight’s  scoop while the Martian winds were blowing.
  • 00:27:58
    Hopefully by doing this, the wind would alter the  trajectory of the sand so it would bounce off the
  • 00:28:04
    panels’ edges, but as it hit the panel it would  knock dust loose, thus removing it in the process.
  • 00:28:10
    This plan might sound crazy in theory, but  incredibly, in practice, it worked! Although
  • 00:28:17
    it wasn’t much, by doing this Insight gained  an additional 30 watt-hours of energy a day.
  • 00:28:23
    This boost in power provided Insight with an  extension of life. Insight made it through the
  • 00:28:29
    Summer of 2021 and into the following year, which  turned out to be a game-changer. In the final
  • 00:28:35
    year of Insight’s life, past the point where it  should have died, it detected its largest quakes.
  • 00:28:42
    In May 2022 the ground rumbled. Data streamed  in. Insight’s SEIS sensor detected a Mag 5 quake.
  • 00:28:51
    Mars’ lack of plate tectonics makes this  a true giant of a quake for the planet.
  • 00:28:57
    Just a few months later, Insight’s end neared.  In November 2022, NASA scientists start to pack
  • 00:29:05
    down their side of the project. With  the data that Insight has collected,
  • 00:29:09
    they start collating it into a package that will  be accessible to researchers around the world.
  • 00:29:14
    They packed up the Earth-based replicas of Insight  and the Martian terrain that they’d been using.
  • 00:29:19
    They prepared to announce to the world that  Insight is in its last couple of weeks of life.
  • 00:29:26
    But Insight’s legacy is not in the metal of its  form, sitting forever on the Martian landscape.
  • 00:29:31
    It is in the things that it learned, the knowledge  it brought us. So, for one final time: what did we
  • 00:29:38
    learn? To begin with, thanks to Insight’s data,  we now know that Mars does indeed have a crust,
  • 00:29:45
    a mantle and a core, just like on Earth. However,  that crust is much thinner than we expected. It
  • 00:29:52
    contains 2 to 3 sublayers and descends 20-37km  deep, compared to the Earth’s which can have a
  • 00:29:59
    thickness of 70km. Its mantle is not as hot as  scientists previously believed and descends a
  • 00:30:06
    further 1,560km. Finally, its core is larger than  scientists thought, with a radius of 1,830km.
  • 00:30:17
    Surprisingly, it is also less dense  than expected. This has led scientists
  • 00:30:22
    to predict that it is not simply made of  Nickel and Iron, like the Earth’s core,
  • 00:30:26
    but that it must contain lighter elements  like Carbon, Oxygen, Sulphur and Hydrogen.
  • 00:30:32
    This is a fascinating insight. It explains  why the core of Mars is still molten.
  • 00:30:38
    Much like salt’s ability to reduce the freezing  point of ice – which is why you see grit
  • 00:30:43
    thrown on roads in cold weather – these lighter  elements reduce the freezing point of Mars’ core.
  • 00:30:50
    It also points to the origin of the planet. These  light elements must have been collected into Mars
  • 00:30:55
    in the very earliest periods of the solar  system’s history, as by the time Earth was
  • 00:31:00
    formed these elements were not around in as great  a quantity, explaining why Mars’ core has them and
  • 00:31:06
    ours doesn’t. They were also found further out,  indicating that Mars may have been brought closer
  • 00:31:12
    into the Sun’s gravity as time progressed, before  finding the stable orbit it navigates along today.
  • 00:31:18
    It confirms that during the early formation of  Mars, all the cosmic dust that came together must
  • 00:31:24
    have heated up and become molten, thus allowing  the heavier core metals to easily sink to the
  • 00:31:30
    planet’s centre. During this period, or soon after  it, Mars began to experience its dynamo effect.
  • 00:31:38
    Mars today has only a weak magnetic field compared  to Earth’s. Most of this field is left over as
  • 00:31:44
    residual traces of magnetism, locked into many of  Mars’ surface rocks. However, back in its early
  • 00:31:51
    formation 4 billion years ago, Mars’ moving  metals in its core created a massive dynamo,
  • 00:31:57
    imbuing these rocks with their magnetism. When  the planet cooled, hot materials were not able to
  • 00:32:03
    move about as quickly as they needed to keep the  dynamo going. In time, Mars’ dynamo ceased to be.
  • 00:32:11
    Thanks to the data provided by Insight,  scientists will have a much better idea
  • 00:32:15
    of the timescales involved in this dynamo.  This is relevant because when we talk about
  • 00:32:20
    magnetic fields and dynamos, those can  affect what the atmosphere was like.
  • 00:32:25
    And once we understand that, we will have a  clearer picture of Mars’ early habitability.
  • 00:32:31
    Insight might give us an idea of the time period  when life was most likely to form on Mars.
  • 00:32:38
    Insight has given us an incredible amount of  raw data, including a fascinating comprehension
  • 00:32:43
    of Martian weather patterns. Yet, there are  still many mysteries. Even though we now know
  • 00:32:50
    the rough dimensions of Mars’ inner structure,  Insight’s findings have actually disproved some
  • 00:32:55
    previously existing theories. For instance,  under a particularly volcanic region on Mars’
  • 00:33:01
    surface known as Tharsis – home of Olympus  Mons, a volcano two and a half times as tall
  • 00:33:07
    as Mt. Everest – there exists a hotspot of magma  that feeds the volcanic processes we see in this
  • 00:33:13
    region. Due to the absence of plate tectonics, it  was unclear what exactly was causing this hotspot,
  • 00:33:19
    which seemed to have been present, unmoving,  for billions of years of Mars’ history.
  • 00:33:25
    Scientists originally thought that this  hotspot was being fed by a lower mantle,
  • 00:33:29
    but it turns out that Mars does not have a lower  mantle. As such, it is back to the drawing board
  • 00:33:34
    to explain what is causing this phenomenon.  Still, these are the sorts of questions and
  • 00:33:40
    discoveries that drive scientific endeavour.  And the discoveries that Insight has given us
  • 00:33:45
    will inform future missions for decades to come.  Scientists will pour over the data, analysing P
  • 00:33:52
    waves and S waves, attempting to find patterns  and meaning in the sounds of Mars’ rumbling
  • 00:33:57
    heartbeat. And who knows how much more we will  discover as a result of this successful mission!
  • 00:34:04
    If more comes in, I will keep you posted.  But now that Insight has powered down,
  • 00:34:09
    as it closed its eyes on the scattered clouds  and dusty plains of Mars, I hope that it can
  • 00:34:15
    rest easy. In spite of its challenges, and the  ups and downs, it did what it came there to do.
  • 00:34:26
    A quick shoutout for my new Displate  collections on planets. I put a lot of
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    work into these and think they look amazing.  If you want your favourite planet on your
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    wall plus a discount on everything on  the website, check the links below.
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    to this list, check the links below.  All the best, and see you next time.
Tag
  • NASA
  • Insight
  • Mars
  • Seismic Activity
  • Planetary Science
  • Space Exploration
  • Martian Soil
  • Solar System Formation
  • Mars Quakes
  • Mission Overview