Landing on Mars: NASA spacecraft survives supersonic diving

CAP CANAVERAL, Florida – Minutes After Landing MarchNASA's InSight spacecraft returned a "nice and dirty" snapshot of its new digs. Yet the dust-stained image looked like a work of art for scientists.

The photo revealed a mostly smooth, sandy terrain around the probe with only one large visible rock.

"I am very pleased to see that we have an incredibly safe and boring landing site," said project manager Tom Hoffman after Monday's touchdown. "It's exactly what we wanted."

A better picture came hours later and we expect more in the coming days, after the dust covers will be detached from the cameras of the Lander.

The spaceship arrived at March after a perilous and supersonic dive in his red sky that took only six minutes.

"Touchdown confirmed!", Announced a flight controller shortly before 3 pm. EST, triggering jubilation among scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who had been waiting for white suspense to be heard, reaching 160 million kilometers (160 million kilometers).

It was the eighth successful landing of NASA at March since the 1976 Viking probes, and the first in six years. The NASA Curiosity rover, arrived in 2012, is still in motion March.

Because of the distance between the Earth and Marchit took eight minutes for the confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites that followed InSight throughout the six-month trip, which amounted to 300 million miles (482 million kilometers).

"Flawless," said Rob Manning, chief engineer of JPL. "Sometimes things work in your favor."

InSight, a $ 1 billion international project, includes a German mole that will dig 5 meters (16 feet) to measure March& # 39; internal heat. The lander also has a French seismometer to measure earthquakes, if they exist in our smaller and geologically quieter neighbor. Another experience will calculate March& # 39; wobble to reveal the composition of the planet's core.

Late Monday, NASA announced that the vital solar panels of the spacecraft were open and recharging its batteries.

During the next "soils" – or Martian days of 39 hours and 39 minutes – the flight controllers will evaluate the state of health of the equally important robot arm of InSight and its scientific instruments. 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.

Banerdt said that the first insight of the surface by InSight was the first scientific element, although "nice and dirty". He said that the image would be cleaned and that the black spots would disappear. This picture came from a low camera on the undercarriage. Late Monday, NASA released a sharp photo taken by a top camera showing some of the lander and landscape.

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.

"In the months and years to come, history books will be rewritten on the inside of the March, "Said JPL director Michael Watkins.

NASA opted this time for a straightforward and straightforward approach, using a parachute and braking motors to increase the speed of InSight to a speed of 12,300 km / h (19,800 km / h) when it crossed the Martian atmosphere, about 114 km up to 8 km / h to the touch. The danger was that the spacecraft could be consumed in the atmosphere or rebound.

A lot MarchSpacecraft 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.

Three-legged InSight is installed on the west side of Elysium Planitia, the plain NASA was aiming 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.

"What an extraordinary day for our country," said Jim Bridenstine, who presided over his first March landing as the boss of NASA.

March"The well-preserved interior 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 active seismically, March "Decided to rest on his laurels" after his training, he said.

By examining and mapping the interior of MarchScientists hope to understand why the rocky planets of our solar system have turned out so different and why Earth has become a refuge for life.

Still, there are no life sensors onboard InSight. The next mission of NASA, the March 2020 rover will roam for rocks that may contain evidence of ancient life. The question of whether life ever existed in March"A wet, watery past is what keeps NASA from bringing the fourth stone back to the sun.

After the landing of InSight, the two experimental satellites flew over March, their main job done. We took one last shot of the red planet that chief satellite engineer Andy Klesh called "Farewell to InSight … goodbye to March. "