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A NASA spacecraft designed to enter the interior of Mars landed on the planet Monday after a perilous and supersonic dive across its red sky, causing jubilation among scientists who had been eagerly awaiting the confirmation of 39, arrive on 100 million kilometers of space. .
The NASA reaction propulsion laboratory flight controllers in Pasadena, California, jumped out of their chairs, shouting, dancing and hugging, after learning that InSight had arrived on Mars, the cemetery from a multitude of previous missions.
"Touchdown confirmed!", Announced a flight controller shortly before 3:00 pm EST, instantly dispelling the anxiety that reigned in the control room as the spacecraft made its descent six minutes.
Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for the confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites following the InSight shuttle.
The two satellites not only delivered the good news almost in real time, but also returned the first snapshot of InSight's Mars video 4 minutes and a half after landing.
The photo was covered with dust because the dust cover was still visible on the LG camera, but the terrain around the probe was smooth and sandy and only revealed one important rock, about what the scientists had hoped for. Better photos are expected in the coming days, after removing the dust covers.
It was NASA's eighth successful landing on Earth since the 1976 Viking Probe, and the first in six years. The NASA Curiosity robot, arrived in 2012, is still moving on Mars.
"Flawless," said Rob Manning, chief engineer of JPL. "That's what we really hoped and imagined in our minds," he added. "Sometimes things work in your favor."
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who was presiding over his first landing on Mars as head of the space agency, said, "What an amazing day for our country."
InSight, a billion-dollar international project, includes a German mole that will dig a depth of 5 meters to measure the internal heat of Mars. The lander also has a French seismometer to measure earthquakes, if they exist in our smaller and geologically quieter neighbor. Another experiment will calculate Mars' wobble to reveal the composition of the planet's core.
"In the coming months and years, the history books on the inside of Mars will be rewritten," said JPL Director Michael Watkins.
Seven hours after touchdown, NASA announced that InSight's vital solar panels were open and recharging their batteries.
During the next 39-hour and 39-minute "soils" or Martian days, flight controllers will also evaluate the health of InSight's robotic arm and its scientific instruments.
Many spacecraft bound for Mars launched by the United States, Russia and other countries have been lost or destroyed over the years, with a success rate of only 40%, not counting InSight.
NASA opted this time for a simple, clbadic approach, using a parachute and braking motors to move the speed of InSight to a speed of 12,300 mph (19,800 km / h) as it pbaded through the atmosphere Martian, about 114 km, at a speed of 8 km / h. h) touchdown. The danger was that the spacecraft could be consumed in the atmosphere or rebound.
Three-legged InSight is installed on the west side of Elysium Planitia, the plain NASA was aiming for. Project leader Tom Hoffman said the probe had landed near the center of the target, but NASA had not yet made the final calculations.
He said that it was hard to say on the first photo if there were any nearby slopes, but that he seemed to have gotten the flat and smooth "parking" that he hoped for .
Museums, planetariums and libraries across the United States have organized viewing parties to follow events at the JPL. NASA TV's coverage was also broadcast on the giant Times Square screen in New York, where the crowd huddled under umbrellas in the rain.
The 800-pound InSight (360 kilograms) is stationary and will work in the same place for the next two years, the duration of a Martian year. It will take months to configure and adjust the instruments, and senior scientist, Bruce Banerdt, said he was not expecting to receive a solid data stream by the end of next spring.
"It's going to be awesome. I can not wait to start seeing marsquakes, "said Hoffman.
The well-preserved interior of Mars provides a glimpse of what the Earth might have looked like after its formation, 4.5 billion years ago, according to Banerdt. While Earth is seismic, Mars "decided to rest on its laurels" after its formation, he said.
By examining and mapping inside Mars, scientists hope to understand why the rocky planets of our solar system have proved so different and why Earth has become a refuge for life.
Still, there are no life sensors onboard InSight. NASA's next mission, the March 2020 rover, will search for rocks that may contain traces of ancient life.
The question of whether life ever existed in the wet and wet past of Mars is what brings NASA back to the fourth stone of the sun.
AP
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