NASA’s InSight Mission: Journey to the Center of Mars

Café Scientifique

NASA’s InSight Mission: Journey to the Center of Mars

Monday, November 7, 2022

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Carnegie Science Center and Zoom

Presenter:

Dr. Bruce Banerdt, PhD, Planetary Geophysicist at NASA

After more than 10 years of planning, design, building and testing, InSight touched down in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars on Nov. 26, 2018. In contrast to the 45 previous missions to Mars which have (when they survived) thoroughly explored its surface features, chemistry, atmosphere, and searched for past or present life, InSight focuses for the first time on the deep interior of the planet, investigating the processes of terrestrial planet formation and evolution. It is performing the first comprehensive surface-based geophysical measurements on Mars, using seismology and precision tracking to shed light on its fundamental structure, from crust to core. This is providing key information on the composition and structure of an Earth-like planet that has gone through most of the evolutionary stages of the Earth up to, but not including, plate tectonics. During the lecture, Dr. Banerdt will describe the mission and its science goals, some scientific results, and give an update on its current status on the surface of Mars.

About Dr. Banerdt

Dr. Bruce Banerdt, Principal Investigator of the InSight mission, is a planetary geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He holds a BS in Physics and a PhD in Geophysics from the University of Southern California and has worked in the Earth and Space Sciences Division of JPL since 1977. Dr. Banerdt has served on numerous NASA, DLR, and National Academy of Sciences advisory panels on planetary and space science and has published over 140 journal articles, reports, and book chapters. His research focuses on the geological history of the planet Mars and geophysical investigations of the interiors of terrestrial planets using analyses of gravity, magnetic, topographic, and seismic data. In addition to a staggering number of unselected planetary instrument and mission proposals, he has participated in several planetary flight instrument teams, including the MOLA altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor and the Imaging Radar on Magellan. He served as Project Scientist for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers for six years before heading up the successful NASA Discovery Program Proposal for the InSight Mission. He has been Principal Investigator for InSight since 2011.

Register for Café Sci

https://members.carnegiemuseums.org/site/Calendar?id=81978&view=Detail&utm_source=luminate&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=cafe-sci

The event is FREE to attend, but preregistration is required! Carnegie Science Center would like to continue to offer programs like Café Sci, Women in STEM, and others. Please consider making a donation when you register. Once you sign up, you’ll get an email confirmation. Have a question for Dr. Banerdt? You’ll be able to type your questions in the Q&A section during the presentation!