NASA is set to pause most of its robotic Mars missions for safety reasons ahead of a two-week blackout caused by the Red Planet's position in space. The rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, as well as helicopter Ingenuity and the lander InSight, will all lose connection with Earth from October 2 when Mars moves behind the sun from our planet's perspective. This position in its orbit, called solar conjunction, happens every two years and can disrupt interplanetary communications and lead to'unexpected behaviour from our deep space explorers', NASA said in a statement. Solar conjunction, when Mars moves behind the sun from Earth's perspective (pictured), happens every two years and can disrupt interplanetary communications NASA is planning to stop sending commands to most of its Mars missions during a communications blackout between October 2 and 16. Instead, the various robots will be given'homework' to carry out on their own. The main missions affected include the Perseverance rover, which arrived on the Red Planet in February, and the Ingenuity helicopter it brought with it on its seven-month journey.

Scientists at NASA have reported an exciting detection by its Insight lander on Mars - mysterious rumblings coming from the interior of the planet. The researchers believe the seismic events may be caused by a sudden release of energy from the planet's interior, but the nature of that release remains unknown and puzzling. Intriguingly, the new rumblings are believed to have originated in a location on Mars called Cerberus Fossae, where two other previous candidate events are believed to have originated. Although these rumblings have sometimes been called "Marsquakes" the planet is not believed to have a similarly active tectonic system like Earth's that causes earthquakes. And curiously, the previous seismic events detected by the space agency's InSight lander - which arrived on the planet's surface in 2018 - occurred almost a full Martian year ago, or two Earth years, during the Martian northern summer.

NASA's "mole" on Mars has failed. After nearly two years of attempting to dig the InSight lander's heat probe – nicknamed the mole – into the Red Planet's surface, engineers have finally given up. The InSight lander arrived on Mars in November 2018. Its main purpose is to study the planet's deep interior in order to help us understand the history of the solar system's rocky worlds. The lander has three main instruments to help it do that: a seismometer to catch vibrations travelling through the ground, a radio to precisely measure Mars's rotation and learn more about its metal core and a setup called the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) to measure the heat flowing out of the planet's centre.

Data beamed back to Earth from NASA's InSight lander suggests Mars' crust is composed of three cake-like layers. Anchored near Mars' equator, the robotic lander's super-sensitive seismometer, known as SEIS, has recorded hundreds of'marsquakes' in the past two years. Each quake emits two sets of seismic waves and analyzing the differences in how those waves move has allowed researchers to begin calculating the size and composition of the planet's crust, mantle and core. 'We have enough data to start answering some of these big questions,' Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Bruce Banerdt told Nature. Launched in 2018, the InSight mission marks the first time scientists have peered inside a planet other than Earth.

Three distinct sounds were detected by NASA's Insight Lander while sitting on Mars' surface. The first "Mars quake" has been detected, NASA announced Tuesday. The finding "officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology!," said Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA said this is the first trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. The sound was detected by NASA's Insight Lander, a robot spacecraft that's now sitting on the Martian surface.

It sounds like a subway train rushing by. But it's something much more exotic: in all likelihood, the first "marsquake" ever recorded by humans. NASA's InSight mission detected the quake on April 6, four months after the lander's highly sensitive seismometer was installed on the Martian surface. The instrument had previously registered the howling winds of the red planet and the motions of the lander's robotic arm. But the shaking picked up this month is believed to be the first quake from Mars' interior.

NASA's InSight lander is leaning in for a better listen of Mars' underground tremors. The robotic explorer placed its seismometer on the surface at the end of last month, and is now getting even closer'for a better connection with Mars.' This will help its instruments pick up fainter signals that may otherwise have been missed. NASA's InSight lander is leaning in for a better listen of Mars' underground tremors. The robotic explorer placed its seismometer on the surface at the end of last month, and is now getting even closer'for a better connection with Mars.' Before and after images show its instrument at its lowest position yet Days prior, InSight leveled out its seismometer and adjusted the internal sensors ahead of lowering everything down toward the ground.

NASA's InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface of Mars. New images from the lander show the seismometer on the ground, after it was lifted onto the surface by the lander's robotic arm. It will record the waves traveling through the interior structure of the planet, and could help explain mysterious'marsquakes' scientists believe occur regularly. New images from the lander show the seismometer on the ground, after it was lifted onto the surface by the lander's robotic arm. It will record the waves traveling through the interior structure of the planet, and could help explain mysterious'marsquakes' scientists believe occur regularly.

NASA has finally pinpointed the exact landing location of its new Mars explorer, thanks to a powerful camera on its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the space agency knew InSight had landed within an 81-mile-long (130 km) ellipse on the red planet, there was no way to determine exactly where it touched down within this region. Now, a series of images captured this week by MRO's HiRISE camera have confirmed that the lander, heat shield, and parachute all sit within 1,000 feet of each other on a lava plain called Elysium Planitia. NASA has finally pinpointed the exact landing location of its new Mars explorer, thanks to a powerful camera on its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In the images released today by NASA, InSight and its parts appear as bright teal specks on rust-colored landscape.

The robot will go through an initial assessment phase to check on its overall health and the health of its instruments before it can move on to the deployment phase. Then, once its finally time to deploy its suite of instruments, that process alone is expected to take two to three months. InSight will place its seismometer, and only once the team is happy with its location and initial operations will it return to the deck to get its wind and thermal shields, which will sit atop the seismometer for protection. The lander will then pick up the heat probe to bring to the surface, before beginning its historic dig. Eventually, once it's all settled in, Barrett says we'll be'sitting back listening for Mars quakes.'