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The heat flow and physical properties package (HP3) of the InSight Mars mission is an instrument package designed to determine the martian planetary heat flow. To this end, the package was designed to emplace sensors into the martian subsurface and measure the thermal conductivity as well as the geothermal gradient in the 0–5 m depth range. After emplacing the probe to a tip depth of 0.37 m, a first reliable measurement of the average soil thermal conductivity in the 0.03–0.37 m depth range was performed. Using the HP3 mole as a modified line heat source, we determined a soil thermal conductivity of 0.039 ± 0.002 W m−1 K−1, consistent with the results of orbital and in‐situ thermal inertia estimates. This low thermal conductivity implies that 85%–95% of all particles are smaller than 104–173 μm and suggests that soil cementation is minimal, contrary to the considerable degree of cementation suggested by image data. Rather, cementing agents like salts could be distributed in the form of grain coatings instead. Soil densities compatible with the measurements are 1211−113+149 kg m−3, indicating soil porosities of 63−9+4%. Plain Language Summary: The heat flow and physical properties package (HP3) of the InSight Mars mission is an instrument package that was designed to measure soil temperature as well as the soil's ability to transport heat, the so called thermal conductivity. After the probe was inserted to a depth of 0.37 m a first measurement of the soil's thermal conductivity was performed. The soil was found to be a poor thermal conductor with average conductivity close to 0.039 W m−1 K−1. As thermal transport properties in sands are related to grain size, the latter can be estimated based on the performed measurement. We find that particles must be smaller than about 150 μm, corresponding to fine sand that may be intermixed with dust. Further, salts in the soil can act as cementing agents, which connect individual sand grains and thus increase the strength of grain‐to‐grain contacts and therefore thermal conductivity. However, given the low thermal conductivity determined here, the amount of such cement must be minimal, contrary to what is suggested by image data. Finally, we find that the soil must have significant porosity of about 60% to be compatible with our measurements. Key Points: The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) measured the average thermal conductivity of the martian soilAverage soil thermal conductivity in the 0.03–0.37 m depth range is 0.039 ± 0.002 W m−1 K−1This implies that 85%–95% of all particles are smaller than 104–173 μm [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (HP 3) of the InSight Mars mission is an instrument package to measure the Martian geothermal heat flow. The instrument's platinum resistance temperature sensors have been calibrated between −75 and +55 °C, and the absolute temperature uncertainty of the calibration is 10 mK. Temperature differences can be measured with an uncertainty of better than 5 mK. HP 3 determines regolith thermal conductivity by using the HP 3 mole as a modified line heat source, and thermal conductivity can be measured with an uncertainty of better than 4%. Tilt sensors used to determine the attitude of the mole during penetration measure tilt with an uncertainty of better than 0.25°. Key Points: The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP 3) of the InSight Mars mission is a heat flow probe designed to measure the temperature gradient and thermal conductivity of the Martian regolith to a depth of 5 mTo reconstruct sensor depth, tiltmeters measure the emplacement angle with an uncertainty of better than 0.25°Temperature sensors have been calibrated to measure temperature difference with an uncertainty of better than 5 mK; thermal conductivity can be measured with an uncertainty of better than 4%; all stated uncertainties are 1 σ confidence limits [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package HP3 for the InSight mission will attempt the first measurement of the planetary heat flow of Mars. The data will be taken at the InSight landing site in Elysium planitia (136 ∘E, 5 ∘N) and the uncertainty of the measurement aimed for shall be better than ±5 mW m−2. The package consists of a mechanical hammering device called the “Mole” for penetrating into the regolith, an instrumented tether which the Mole pulls into the ground, a fixed radiometer to determine the surface brightness temperature and an electronic box. The Mole and the tether are housed in a support structure before being deployed. The tether is equipped with 14 platinum resistance temperature sensors to measure temperature differences with a 1-σ uncertainty of 6.5 mK. Depth is determined by a tether length measurement device that monitors the amount of tether extracted from the support structure and a tiltmeter that measures the angle of the Mole axis to the local gravity vector. The Mole includes temperature sensors and heaters to measure the regolith thermal conductivity to better than 3.5% (1-σ) using the Mole as a modified line heat source. The Mole is planned to advance at least 3 m—sufficiently deep to reduce errors from daily surface temperature forcings—and up to 5 m into the martian regolith. After landing, HP3 will be deployed onto the martian surface by a robotic arm after choosing an instrument placement site that minimizes disturbances from shadows caused by the lander and the seismometer. The Mole will then execute hammering cycles, advancing 50 cm into the subsurface at a time, followed by a cooldown period of at least 48 h to allow heat built up during hammering to dissipate. After an equilibrated thermal state has been reached, a thermal conductivity measurement is executed for 24 h. This cycle is repeated until the final depth of 5 m is reached or further progress becomes impossible. The subsequent monitoring phase consists of hourly temperature measurements and lasts until the end of the mission. Model calculations show that the duration of temperature measurement required to sufficiently reduce the error introduced by annual surface temperature forcings is 0.6 martian years for a final depth of 3 m and 0.1 martian years for the target depth of 5 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]