Aylla Joice Torres 
“I didn’t expect something such as a Mars lander to make me sad today, but here we are.”
InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
InSight’s mission is to study the interior of Mars and take the planet’s vital signs, pulse, and temperature. It seeks to uncover how a rocky body forms and evolves to become a planet by investigating the interior structure and composition of Mars. The mission will also determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts. The lander data has also yielded details about Mars’ interior layers, its liquid core, the surprisingly variable remnants beneath the surface of its mostly extinct magnetic field, weather, and quake activity.
Nasa’s InSight lander has delivered what could be its final message from Mars, where it has been on a history-making mission to reveal the secrets of the Red Planet’s interior.
In November the space agency warned the lander’s time may be coming to an end as dust continued to thicken and choke out the InSight’s power.
A message shared on the Nasa InSight social media account read: “My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me.”
It’s been more than four years since InSight touched down on Mars at 11:52:59 a.m. PST (2:52:59 p.m. EST) on November 26, 2018.
“I’ve been lucky enough to live on two planets. Four years ago, I arrived safely at the second one, to the delight of my family back on the first. Thanks to my team for sending me on this journey of discovery. Hope I’ve done you proud,” InSight said.
Aylla Joice Torres | SciTech Editor
Julio Laberon | Senior Layout Artist
