InSight takes pictures of Mars and starts moving the robotic arm



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  InSight takes pictures of Mars and begins moving his robotic arm

Photo taken by NASA's InSight module on Mars, November 27, 2018 – NASA / JPL-CALTECH / AFP

Having landed on March Monday, the American module InSight seems to be in good condition after its interplanetary journey.

The InSight module is equipped with two color cameras and has already sent six photos to Earth since it arrived Monday at 19:52:59 GMT (17:

Images sent to Earth have now taken from the same angle

In them, it is possible to see a clear sky and an apparently flat surface.The dust sometimes masks the images taken with the camera which is on the platform of the module.

The transparent lens protector will then be removed and the camera will make the images sharper.

InSight, an acronym for Inner Exploration using Seismic Investigation .The geodesy and heat transfer is equipped with a robotic arm articulated at the end of which is a five-fingered forceps

This forceps will be used to grasp and support the two InSight instruments in Martian soil over the next three months.

For the moment, the engineers of NASA have c started releasing the tension of the clamp slightly, with good results, according to two photos of Tuesday and Thursday, showing that the clamp was moved.

NASA did not provide any additional information.

Monday night, a few hours after landing, he said the solar panels had been properly installed and focused on charging InSight batteries, their only source of energy.

In good weather, the power is 600 to 700 watts, the same power needed to power a kitchen mixer, which is more than enough, according to NASA

In Paris, the National Center of space studies, which developed the main instrument, SEIS seismograph, refers to NASA to report on the state of the instruments

"It will take several days to know the exact state of the seismograph, but it seems to be going, "he told AFP. "Everything seems normal for the moment."

In the coming days, the robotic arm should start working. The camera mounted on the arm can take a picture of the InSight immediate area and confirm that there is a flat, stone-free location in front of the module to support the instruments. [ad_2]
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