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A foldable workstation or a big eye bug? The Mars Insight NASA Nasa offers different perspectives depending on whether you are looking at the ground level or directly from the top. Equipped to lift the secrets of Mars' core and detect earthquakes, Insight can give your iPhone a serious inferiority complex. ("Hey, do not cry, Siri, you're the only one who can play Kishore Kumar's songs!")
InSight landed without a problem in a rusty Mars plain early this morning, causing dizzying celebrations at the propulsion lab by NASA's reaction (If you think the La Liga ecstatic strikers can be creative, check out this handshake.). Soon, the probe has deployed its solar panels – yes, the one that reminds you of insects – to recharge its batteries.
INSIDE MISSION CONTROL | We explain step by step how InSight landed on Mars.
Now, despite its expensive sophistication, InSight can not move or scan Mars for life. But, but … what's the use then, ask yourself? Scientists really have a lot to expect. So here, without further ado, are three "superpowers" of Captain Insight (then?)? And their meaning for science.
Listening to Marsquakes
Nasa / MARS InSight Mission Website
Do you see the white dome in the foreground? It is a wind and heat shield covering the seismometer of InSight – the first to have been brought to Mars for four decades. We know that earthquakes (and other types of events) cause seismic waves – but why are we listening to them on Mars?
To learn more about its composition.
Nasa explains: These waves undergo changes during their journey. Through different types of documents, their tracking thus provides clues as to what they encounter on their way. The InSight seismometer "informs scientists of the nature of the material that formed the rock planets of the solar system," says NASA, which compares the device to a "stethoscope."
All about temperature. Say, aaaah!
Website of the mission InSight Nasa / MARS
The dark burrowing tool that you see is the heat flux probe and physical properties . Again, the goal is to get to know the interior of Mars. Here, the messenger is not a seismic wave, but … as its name suggests, heat.
"As if to study the heat coming out of a car engine, [the probe] measures the heat coming from inside Mars to reveal The heat flows from the body of the planet and what is its source Nasa explains, "This helps scientists determine if Mars is formed from the same material as the Earth and the Moon and gives them insight into the evolution of the planet."
The search for oscillations
Mission InSight Nasa / MARS website
The antennas marked in red are part of an equipment called RISE or Experience of rotation and inner structure (note again the reference to "inner structure".) RISE will follow the orbit of Mars and, with the aid of an effect called Doppler shift, will determine the magnitude of the "flickering" of the red planet.But what does this have to do with the? Inside of Mars?
"How badly a planet flickers depends on what it contains," Nasa explains. "A hard-boiled egg rotates faster than a raw egg, in the same way a planet that is liquid in its heart will wobble more spinning than one that is solid at its center." Understanding how Mars is wobbling will reveal this that its the core is like. "
So, how long will NASA get the insight data? It turns out that it will take months to install and adjust the instruments. Senior scientist, Bruce Banerdt, said that he was not expecting to receive a solid data stream by the end of next spring.
"It will be great," said project manager Tom Hoffman. "I can not wait to start seeing Marsquakes."
Information from the Mars Insight Mission website (https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/). AP data
DO YOU WANT MORE? | Relive the landing with NASA
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