Editor's note

When we look up at Mars in the night sky we see a red planet – but what’s on the inside? Launching in early May from California, NASA’s InSight mission is set to find out.

The InSight spacecraft is a stationary lander that will measure marsquakes (seismic activity) and heat flow on the interior of Mars. Part of the team interpreting the InSight data, Australian scientist Katarina Miljkovic writes this first-of-its-kind information will tell us about the deep physical structure of Mars and how often meteoroids hit the planet.

Why does this matter? Discovering what Mars is made of will help plan future landing missions – and it could be vital for working out whether humans could really ever live on this planet, one of Earth’s closest neighbours.

Sarah Keenihan

Section Editor: Science + Technology

Top story

InSight aims to figure out just how tectonically active Mars is, and how often meteorites impact it. NASA

Launching in May, the InSight mission will measure marsquakes to explore the interior of Mars

Katarina Miljkovic, Curtin University

What is Mars made of? We hear from a scientist who will be part of the team analysing 'marsquake' seismic data and orbital imagery from the InSight mission to the red planet.

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