page_title: InSight
section_title: Landing site
hierarchical_section_title: InSight / Journey to Mars / Landing site
caption_attribution_description: English: PIA23376: The Best View of InSight https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23376 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7518 The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter got its best view yet of the agency's InSight lander on Sept. 23, 2019. HiRISE has been monitoring InSight's landing site on the Red Planet for changes such as dust-devil tracks (the slightly dark diagonals streaks crisscrossing the surface). This new image clearly shows the two circular solar panels on either side of the lander body. From end to end, the panels span 20 feet (6 meters); the image was taken from an elevation of 169 miles (272 kilometers) above the surface. The bright spot on the lower side of the spacecraft is the dome-shaped protective cover over InSight's seismometer. Surrounding the spacecraft is a dark halo created by retrorocket thrusters scouring the surface during landing. Dark streaks seen crossing diagonally across the surface are dust-devil tracks. Several factors make this image crisper than past images. For one thing, there's less dust in the air this time of year compared to before. And shadows are offset from the lander because this is an oblique view looking west. Moreover, the lighting was better for avoiding the bright reflections from the lander or its solar panels that have obscured surrounding pixels in other images. The seismometer cover to the south of the lander is still bright because its dome shape always produces a mirror-like reflection over some small area. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages both the orbiter and lander missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of Caltech. The University of Arizona in Tucson operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace &amp; Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado.
context_page_description: The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport mission is a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. It was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and most of its scientific instruments were built by European agencies. The mission launched on 5 May 2018 at 11:05 UTC aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket and successfully landed at Elysium Planitia on Mars on 26 November 2018 at 19:52:59 UTC. InSight traveled 483 million km during its journey.
  InSight's objectives are to place a seismometer, called SEIS, on the surface of Mars to measure seismic activity and provide accurate 3D models of the planet's interior; and measure internal heat flow using a heat probe called HP³ to study Mars' early geological evolution. This could bring a new understanding of how the Solar System's terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars – and Earth's Moon form and evolve.
  The lander was originally planned for launch in March 2016. An instrument problem delayed the launch beyond the 2016 launch window.
context_section_description: As InSight's science goals are not related to any particular surface feature of Mars, potential landing sites were chosen on the basis of practicality. Candidate sites needed to be near the equator of Mars to provide sufficient sunlight for the solar panels year round, have a low elevation to allow for sufficient atmospheric braking during EDL, be flat and relatively rock-free to reduce the probability of complications during landing, and have soft enough terrain to allow the heat flow probe to penetrate well into the ground.
  An optimal area that meets all these requirements is Elysium Planitia, so all 22 initial potential landing sites were located in this area. The only two other areas on the equator and at low elevation, Isidis Planitia and Valles Marineris, are too rocky. In addition, Valles Marineris has too steep a gradient to allow safe landing.
  In September 2013, the initial 22 potential landing sites were narrowed down to four, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was then used to gain more information on each of the four potential sites before a final decision was made. Each site consists of a landing ellipse that measures about 130 by 27 km (81 by 17 mi).
  In March 2017, scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that the landing site had been selected. It is located in western Elysium Planitia at 4.5°N 135.9°E. The landing site is about 600 km (370 mi) north from where the Curiosity rover is operating in Gale Crater.
  On 26 November 2018, the spacecraft successfully touched down at its landing site, and in early December 2018 InSight lander and EDL components were imaged from space on the surface of Mars. The images provided precise position of the lander: 4.5024°N 135.6234°E.
caption: The InSight Lander as viewed from the MRO (23 September 2019).
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