The mission on Mars was lucky: a NASA lander landed in a crater filled with sand, making it easier to study the inside of the planet | Science

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA- In a laboratory on Earth, marsforming had already started.

Nov. 27, the day after the successful landing of NASA's InSight lander on Mars, After the departure of the television crews, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) technicians were already at work and were simulating Mars for a full-size model of the LG, which they call ForeSight. Scientists still do not know exactly where Mars InSight is. But the first images returned to Earth established its immediate environment – and that the lander is slightly inclined by 4 °. So yesterday, NASA engineers were playing in the sand, moving fake rocks from Mars to set them up. They raised ForeSight on their shoulders while placing small blocks under a landing leg for the list to be correctly displayed. a thermal probe and a seismometer. According to the few photos returned up to now, its location is very similar to that of Martian lands previously discovered by the Spirit robot.

For example, InSight landed in what is called a hollow, a crater filled with land and leveled flat. On images taken from the elbow of the robot robotic arm of the lander, the edge of the crater is visible. Once the team has determined the diameter of the crater (it can be meters, or even tens of meters), researchers can deduce the depth and quantity of sand that is blown into it. Be that as it may, it bodes well for the thermal probe instrument, called HP3, which should easily penetrate the material. "That's about the same good news you can not expect for HP3," he says.

Landing in the hollow was a chance for another reason. InSight did not really hit the bull from its target landing zone and ended up on a terrain that, overall, is rockier than desired. But the hollow is mostly devoid of rocks. One, about 20 centimeters in diameter, rests near the feet of the undercarriage, while three smaller ones are farther apart, but none threaten to place the instruments. The hollow is flat and lacks sand dunes. Small pebbles indicate a sufficiently dense surface to support the weight of the instruments. "We have no difficulty," said Golombek.

The biggest mystery for the Lander team right now is knowing exactly where it is.A Martian orbiter settled Thursday in the center of the area. 39, landing will miss the LG, as it is slightly missing the center.An instrument on InSight called inertial measurement unit pinned the location to a circle 5 km wide. InSight's descent and landing will refine this estimate to one kilometer or less. "But they have not done it yet because they were so happy to have landed safely that we do not know what they are doing. last night, "says Golombek with a smile," and they have not come out yet. "

There is another technique that could help: the third major InSight experience, called rotation and structure The main goal of RISE's two sensitive listening antennas is to detect oscillations in the Martian nucleus. But the InSight team can also use them to map the latitude and longitude of the LG using the radio signals of the pbading orbiters. This allowed the geologists to be at a hundred meters or so.

The competition is friendly. Golombek and his peers hope to beat the satellites to repair InSight's location. They should have until December 6, when an orbiter will probably capture it. Right now, they are expanding the meager images and trying to compare their hollow cards to the existing high resolution cards. Their work will become much easier next week, when the camera on the elbow of the robotic arm will be extended to photograph in detail the land of the lander. For the moment, the arm is stowed. On Tuesday, they were simple measures, such as the elimination of small loads that hold the arm on the deck. But later this week, once the camera caps are removed and the arm released, detailed recognition will begin.