InSight Mission: Early Operations

The InSight Mission is planning for a November 26, 2018 landing on Mars. Over the subsequent several months, the Lander will deploy instruments to the Martian Surface and start the science mission. The science delivered from InSight will uncover the geophysical characteristics of Mars and use comparative planetary geophysical techniques to better understand the formation and evolution of Mars and thus by extension other terrestrial planets. The mission science uses several instrument and sensors, many of which are international contributions to gather the science data. This paper will describe the InSight mission and science objectives with a focus on the activities since the May 5, 2018 Launch including the InSight Mission Design, Navigation, and Cruise Phase Instrument check-out and the plans for the November Entry, Decent and Landing and Instrument Deployment Phases.