Spacecraft InSight's mission is to find clues on how first formed By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.07.18 Word Count 759 Level 840L

An illustration of the InSight lander on Mars. Photo by: NASA/JPL-Cal Tech

What do you call an that happens on Mars? Scientists call it a marsquake.

This is not a nerdy joke. It's an important part of the mission for NASA's newest spacecraft, InSight.

The spacecraft launched early on the morning of Saturday, May 5. It carries tools to take the temperature and measure shakes deep beneath Mars' surface. Even the slightest shake could carry clues about how the planet formed. Scientists will also learn what goes on today beneath the planet's surface.

Earth and Mars formed from the same ingredients. That was more than 4.5 billion years ago. InSight aims to help scientists understand why the two planets now look so different.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1 Suzanne Smrekar is a NASA scientist working on the project. She said one reason Earth looks different from Mars is . Plate tectonics means that the outer layer of the Earth is made from separate pieces, or plates. They move very slowly over time. As they move, they reshape the continents, creating volcanoes and causing .

InSight Will Study Quakes On Mars

Plate tectonics also means that Earth's outer layer is made up of different material now than it was billions of years ago. Mars is different too. Its materials are more like how both Mars and Earth were billions of years ago, explained Smrekar. "It gives us a chance to go back in time," she said.

InSight launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If all goes according to plan, it will be the first mission to study earthquakes on another planet.

The spacecraft will travel for six months. The journey to Mars will cover 300 million miles. You could go to the moon and back more than 600 times in the distance of this one Mars trip.

After landing on Mars, InSight will spend the next two years collecting data at . Elysium Planitia is a flat plain near Mars' equator.

A is a tool that measures motions in the ground. InSight's seismometer is similar to the tools used to detect quakes on Earth. However, the biggest seismic waves on Earth are made by tectonic plates drifting and hitting each other. Quakes on Mars, if they happen, are likely caused by its cooling.

Searching For Volcanoes Or Water Underground

The tool also can detect vibrations coming from other action on Mars. It will notice the thump of a meteorite crashing into the planet, for example.

Scientists hope the seismometer will answer many questions. Are there volcanoes underground? Or pools of water?

Another tool will drill almost 16 feet into the planet's surface. It should reveal the kinds of materials from which Mars first formed, Smrekar explained.

Meanwhile, two antennas will track how the north pole "wobbles" during the planet's orbits around the sun. The data they collect will help determine the size and ' core. The core is the center part of the planet, beneath the outer layers.

"It's kind of like the difference between how a raw egg and a hard-boiled egg spin," Smrekar said. "We'll be trying to determine whether the core is liquid or solid," she said.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2 Uncovering An Ancient Mystery

The results might be the key to a four-billion-year-old mystery. Scientists believe that Mars used to have a magnetic field like Earth. The field was created by Mars' core and the other layers of the planet. That field probably protected the planet. Back then, Mars was a warm, wet place, with oceans whose shorelines can still be seen today. That planet and ours may have been nearly twins.

Mars' magnetic field went away, though. Unprotected, its water and atmosphere were stripped away by particles coming from the sun. What InSight reveals about Mars' core could explain how that disaster happened.

Unfortunately, the mission could fail. Mars missions fail about half of the time. InSight could crash and break when it lands. Because landings on Mars happen so fast and are so dangerous, scientists refer to them as "the seven minutes of terror."

InSight was postponed once before in 2015. NASA pushed back launch by 26 months after finding leaks in the area where the seismometer was being held. The delay added $154 million to the cost of the mission.

InSight's launch window opened at 4:05 a.m. Pacific Time on Saturday. The event itself was streamed on NASA TV. But if Californians from Santa Maria to San Diego were willing to wake up early, they only needed to step outside to witness it in person: a flare of light streaking southward, en route to another world.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3 Quiz

1 Which detail MOST CLEARLY shows what the purpose of the InSight mission is?

(A) Even the slightest shake could carry clues about how the planet formed. Scientists will also learn what goes on today beneath the planet's surface.

(B) Suzanne Smrekar is a NASA scientist working on the project. She said one reason Earth looks different from Mars is plate tectonics.

(C) Plate tectonics also means that Earth's outer layer is made up of different material now than it was billions of years ago. Mars is different too.

(D) The journey to Mars will cover 300 million miles. You could go to the moon and back more than 600 times in the distance of this one Mars trip.

2 Read the paragraph from the section "Uncovering An Ancient Mystery."

Mars' magnetic field went away, though. Unprotected, its water and atmosphere were stripped away by particles coming from the sun. What InSight reveals about Mars' core could explain how that disaster happened.

Which of the following is the MOST accurate explanation of this paragraph?

(A) Mars’ magnetic field, water and atmosphere no longer exist because of the sun. Scientists want to prove that it's true.

(B) Mars’ magnetic field went away because its water and atmosphere disappeared first. Scientists want to learn more.

(C) Mars’ magnetic field started to cause the water and atmosphere to disappear. Scientists are trying to figure out why.

(D) Mars’ magnetic field protected the water and atmosphere from the sun. Scientists want to know what happened to it.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4 3 Read the sentence from the section "InSight Will Study Quakes On Mars."

However, the biggest seismic waves on Earth are made by tectonic plates drifting and hitting each other.

Which word from the section helps the reader understand the meaning of "seismic"?

(A) travel

(B) landing

(C) tools

(D) quakes

4 Read the paragraph from the section "Uncovering An Ancient Mystery."

Unfortunately, the mission could fail. Mars missions fail about half of the time. InSight could crash and break when it lands. Because landings on Mars happen so fast and are so dangerous, scientists refer to them as "the seven minutes of terror."

What does "the seven minutes of terror" refer to?

(A) how long it takes to launch a spacecraft

(B) how often InSight has failed over the years

(C) how scientists feel during a

(D) how many times a spacecraft tries to land

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5