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EchoNaut
InSight's final selfie on Mars: the lander's round solar panels covered in reddish dust.

First landing: 25 May 2008Status: Not working any more

Phoenix and InSight landers

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Main spot on Mars:Elysium Planitia

Phoenix landed in 2008 and confirmed that there is water ice just under the surface. InSight, built on Phoenix's design, landed in 2018. Its robotic arm placed a seismometer and a heat probe on the ground.

Flat map of Mars with 2 markers: the main site at Elysium Planitia (4.50° N, 135.62° E) and the places of Phoenix lander.
Elysium Planitia + 1 more place4.50° N, 135.62° EA flat map of the whole of Mars, like a world map of Earth. The big dot marks the main spot; the small dots mark other things the mission left behind.

The big map

Where Phoenix and InSight landers can be found on Mars

This is the whole of Mars, unrolled flat like a world map of Earth. The left and right edges are really the same line on the round planet. The lines are the coordinates , every 30°. Drag the map to look around, pick a spot, then follow its dashed lines to the numbers on the edges.

Where the mission ended More things it left behind

Flat map of Mars with 2 numbered spots, listed below the map.

The story

Why did it go?

Phoenix was sent to the icy plains near the north pole of Mars to dig for water ice. InSight was sent to study the inside of Mars by taking the planet's "pulse, temperature and reflexes".

Phoenix landed in 2008 and confirmed that there is water ice just under the surface. InSight, built on Phoenix's design, landed in 2018. Its robotic arm placed a seismometer and a heat probe on the ground.

A self-portrait of the Phoenix lander seen from above, on flat ground in the Martian Arctic.(opens larger view)

Phoenix photographed itself on the plains of the far north of Mars.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

By the numbers

The mission in numbers

first launch
2007
type of mission
Robotic
objects listed as left behind
4

Timeline

The journey, step by step

  1. 4 August 2007

    First launch

  2. 25 May 2008

    First landing

  3. 15 December 2022

    The last mission ends

Still there today

What did it leave behind?

  • Status: Not working any more

    Phoenix lander

    Landed on 25 May 2008. As winter came to the Arctic there was too little sunlight to keep its batteries charged, and its last signal came on 2 November 2008.

  • Status: Not working any more

    InSight lander

    Landed on 26 November 2018. Dust slowly covered its solar panels until it had too little power, and its last contact was on 15 December 2022.

  • Status: Not working any more

    InSight seismometer

    Set down on the ground by InSight's robotic arm.

  • Status: Not working any more

    InSight heat flow probe

    Set down on the ground by InSight's robotic arm.

In pictures

Take a closer look

Science legacy

What did we learn?

Phoenix found ice and traces of a chemical called perchlorate in the soil. InSight's measurements showed that lumps of debris from ancient impacts are scattered through the Martian mantle.

Illustration of the InSight lander with its seismometer dome and heat probe set out on the ground.(opens larger view)

Illustration: InSight with its seismometer and heat probe on the ground.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Did you know?

InSight even recorded the low rumble of wind blowing across it.

Sources and fact-check