[ad_1]
From left to right, Jim Bridenstine, Michael Watkins, NASA's Tom Hoffman, Bruce Banerdt, Andrew Klesh and Elizabeth Barrett, make statements under a photo sent from Mars by the InSight lander at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Engineers kiss after InSight's landing on Mars in the Mission Support Zone of the NASA Reactor Propulsion Laboratory space flight operations facility. Image: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via AP
An engineer smiles next to an image of Mars sent from the InSight lander shortly after landing on Mars in the mission badistance area of the operations facility. Space flight NASA reaction propulsion laboratory. Image: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via AP
Engineers monitor the landing of InSight in the mission support area of NASA's space flight operations facility. Image: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via AP
In the left, NASA representatives, Jim Bridenstine, Michael Watkins, Tom Hoffman, Bruce Banerdt, Klesh Andrew and Elizabeth Barrett celebrate the landing of InSight on Mars at a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from NASA. Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
NASA officials, Michael Watkins, Tom Hoffman and Bruce Banerdt, celebrate after landing on Mars 's InSight at NASA' s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Image: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Engineer Kris Bruvold, bottom center, celebrates the event as the InSight Lander lands on Mars in the Mission Assisted Mission Assistance Zone. NASA reaction propulsion laboratory space flight operation. Image: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via AP
In this image provided by NASA, Kris Bruvold, member of the Mars InSight team, left, and Sandy Krasner rejoice. Image: Bill Ingalls / NASA via AP
Engineers celebrate the event as the InSight lander lands on Mars in the mission support area of the space flight operation facility of the jet propulsion laboratory from NASA. Image: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via AP
This photo provided by NASA shows an image on Mars acquired by InSight using its arm-mounted robotic Camera Deployment Camera (IDC) camera, after landing on the planet. Image: NASA via AP
Cape Canaveral – A NASA spacecraft designed to penetrate inside the planet Mars landed on the planet Monday after a perilous and supersonic plunge through its red sky, causing jubilation among scientists who had waited 100 millions of dollars outstanding space miles.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory flight controllers in Pasadena, California, jumped from their chairs screaming, dancing and hugging, after learning that InSight had arrived on Mars, the cemetery of 39, a multitude of previous missions.
"Touchdown confirmed!" a flight controller called just before 3:00 pm Eastern time, instantly dispelling the anxiety that reigned in the control room as the spacecraft made its descent six minutes.
Due to the distance between the Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for the confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites that were lying around
The two satellites not only transmitted the good news almost in real time, but they also returned the first InSight snapshot on Mars, 4 minutes and a half after the 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 allowed one to appear considerable rock, pretty much what the scientists had hoped. Better photos are expected in the coming days, after removing the dust covers.
This was NASA's successful eighth landing on Earth since the 1976 Viking probes, and the first since 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's director, 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 Mars' internal heat. The lander also has a French seismometer to measure earthquakes, if they exist in our smaller and geologically quieter neighbor. Another experiment will calculate the oscillation of Mars to reveal the composition of the planet's nucleus.
"In the months and years to come, history books will be rewritten on the inside of March," said JPL director Michael Watkins.
Seven hours after touchdown, NASA announced that InSight's vital solar panels were open and recharging its batteries.
During the next "soils" – or Martian days of 24 hours and 39½ minutes – the flight controllers will also evaluate the health status of the very important robot arm of InSight 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.
? I would like you to be there! @NASAInSight sent home his first picture after #MarsLanding:
InSight's view is a flat, smooth expanse called Elysium Planitia, but its workspace is located beneath the surface, where it will study the deep interior of Mars. pic.twitter.com/3EU70jXQJw
– NASA (@NASA)
November 26, 2018
NASA opted this time for a simple, clbadic approach, using a parachute and braking motors to boost InSight's speed to 12,300 mph (19,800 km / h) when it broke 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 that NASA had not yet completed 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 "parking lot" flat and smooth that he was hoping for .
United States museums, planetariums and libraries have organized observational nights to follow the events at the JPL. The cover of NASA TV was also broadcast on the giant screen of Times Square 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 great, I can not wait to start seeing the marsquakes," said Hoffman.
The well-preserved interior of Mars provides insights into what the Earth might look like since 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 rover March 2020, will criss-cross the 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 prevents NASA from bringing back the sun to the fourth rock.
AP
[ad_2]
Source link
