Discovery Program – Spaceflight Now

NASA gives up on salvaging InSight Mars lander’s ‘mole’

January 19, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA managers tried for the last time earlier this month to coax the InSight lander’s long-stuck subsurface heat probe into the Martian soil, but after seeing no more progress, ground teams decided to end their efforts and focus on the mission’s other science objectives.

NASA mission extension enables first flybys of Jupiter’s moons in 20 years

January 11, 2021 Stephen Clark

In a pair of mission extensions, NASA has cleared the way for more seismic observations on Mars with the robotic InSight lander and approved plans for the Juno spacecraft to alter its orbit and perform close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, Ganymede, and the volcanic moon Io.

NASA taps SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch mission to metal asteroid

March 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a robotic mission in July 2022 to explore Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The Psyche probe is NASA’s first mission assigned to fly on SpaceX’s heavy-lift launcher.

NASA to assess proposals for probes to Venus, moons of Jupiter and Neptune

February 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Thursday it will fund four concept studies for potential robotic missions to Venus, Jupiter’s moon Io and Neptune’s moon Triton ahead of a decision next year to approve up to two of the projects for launch in the mid-to-late 2020s.

SpaceX files protest of NASA’s Lucy launch contract awarded to ULA

February 15, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has filed a protest challenging a nearly $150 million NASA contract awarded to United Launch Alliance last month to send a robotic asteroid probe into space.

ULA wins contract to launch NASA’s Lucy mission to visit unexplored asteroids

February 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to dispatch the Lucy spacecraft on a mission from Cape Canaveral in October 2021 to fly by seven unexplored asteroids, including six objects locked in orbits leading and trailing Jupiter, where scientists expect swarms of miniature worlds could hold clues about the formation of the solar system.

NASA’s InSight mission lands on Mars to study planet’s hidden interior

November 26, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s InSight spacecraft plunged into the rarefied atmosphere of Mars at a speed of more than 12,000 mph Monday and braked to a gentle touchdown, setting the stage for a two-year surface mission to probe the planet’s deep interior.

Live coverage: InSight probe lands on Mars

November 26, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s robotic InSight spacecraft, carrying a pair of European-built science instruments, successfully landed Monday on a broad, flat equatorial Martian plain named Elysium Planitia. Touchdown was confirmed at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) to begin a science mission focused on studying the deep interior of Mars.

InSight tweaks trajectory to home in on Mars landing site

November 26, 2018 Stephen Clark

On the eve of its blazing entry into the Martian atmosphere, NASA’s InSight spacecraft briefly pulsed its control jets Sunday to target a safe, flat landing zone near the planet’s equator — the last in a series of trajectory correction maneuvers since the mission’s launch in May.

InSight’s entry, descent and landing timeline

November 26, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s InSight lander will fly from the outer edge of the Martian atmosphere at a speed of more than 12,000 mph to a controlled descent rate of 5 mph just above the red planet’s surface in less than seven minutes.