Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package
scientific instrument of the InSight Mars lander
The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) is a science payload on board the InSight lander that features instruments to study the heat flow and other thermal properties of Mars. One of the instruments, a burrowing probe nicknamed "the mole", was designed to penetrate 5 m (16 ft) below Mars' surface. In March 2019, the mole burrowed a few centimeters, but then became unable to make progress due to various factors. In the following year further attempts were made to resolve the issues, with little net progress. On January 14, 2021, it was announced that efforts to drill into the martian surface using the device had been terminated.
HP3 was provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The hammering mechanism inside the mole was designed by the Polish company Astronika and the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences under contract and in cooperation with DLR.
The Principal Investigator is Tilman Spohn from the German Aerospace Center.
Overview
The mission goal was to understand the origin and diversity of terrestrial planets. Information from the HP3 heat flow package was expected to reveal whether Mars and Earth formed from the same material, and determine how active the interior of Mars is today. Additional science goals included determining the thickness of Mars' crust, the composition of its mantle, and thermal characteristics of the interior, such as the temperature gradient and heat flux.
“Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package” enters the record as scientific instrument of the InSight Mars lander. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heat, Flow and Physical can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Heat, Flow and Physical provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q55613553. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019 and 2021.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package primary sources, Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package archive and Heat research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package”?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
- Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.