A mole shoots on the red planet | TIME ONLINE

What does Mars look like inside? What is the size of the planet's nucleus? How it is To date, there are no answers to these questions. The Insight spacecraft, led by the US space agency Nasa, has the mission to provide new information and, indeed, to break a record. Tonight at 20:54 German time, the aircraft must land on the red planet, stay in place and dig for months in the ground of the planet. The researchers want to better understand how the rocky planets formed in our solar system four and a half billion years ago and why they developed so differently.

If everything goes as planned. Concern: In the history of international missions on Mars, more than one in two has failed. The hope: No one knows how to land on the red planet better than the Americans. From 8 pm, the German time transmits the NASA live landing.

To install "in the largest parking of Mars". At least, this is how the authority describes the landing zone in the Elysium Planitia plain to the southwest of the great Elysium volcanic complex. What is surprising: there is absolutely nothing to see there – until now, it was necessary to look closely at the possible special structures. But where there are virtually no stones or larger rocks, no slopes and no wells, a landing robot is most likely to stop safely. Insight would be 550 km from the Curiosity landing site, about 2,600 km from Spirit and 8,400 km from Opportunity.

From the beginning of January, we want to create in the plane "the deepest hole ever built by the technology created by man on another celestial body," says the press release of the German Center aerospace (DLR). That means: you want to dig up to five meters deep. The HP3, developed by DLR employees, should be largely responsible for the drilling of disks. Heat flow and set of physical propertiesbecause of his skills also affectionately called "Mole".

The pounding is at least until March 2019

The device drives 50 centimeters into the rock and then stops according to the DLR. Measurements can be made and devices controlled before the depth exceeds 50 centimeters. The probe uses a fully automatic electric hammer striking mechanism and pulls a flat cable equipped with measurement sensors in the Martian soil, he continues. In collaboration with other newly developed devices, it will measure the internal temperature and use a seismometer to record earthquakes, meteorite impacts and all other movements that shake Mars.

Good old knowledge helps to transfer the information collected on Earth. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey 2001 spacecraft fly over the landing site twice a day and serve as relay stations, that is, radio stations, for data traffic.

"As we do not know what surprises – for example because of harder rocks – are waiting for us in the metro, we proceed with great caution and plan to reach the depth of focus within weeks, until we reach the end of the day. in March 2019, "said Tilman Spohn of the DLR Planetary Research Institute in Berlin. the message.

Because Insight does not just drill, it also answers many scientific questions (what is the height of Marskern, what is it, is it liquid or solid, what is it? 39, thickness of the crust, what is the activity of Mars, how often do the meteorites hit?), The mission has two terrestrial years in total. A billion dollars, about 880 million euros, has so far spent the leaders.