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CAP CAN CANVERAL, Florida – A NASA spacecraft designed to enter the interior of Mars landed on the planet on Monday after a perilous and supersonic dive through its red sky, causing jubilation from the expected scientists in the expectation of a white suspense.
The flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, stood up screaming, dancing and hugging, learning that InSight had arrived on Mars, the cemetery for a multitude of missions preceding.
"Touchdown confirmed!" Announced a flight controller shortly before 3 pm EAST, instantly dispelling the worry in the control room as the spacecraft made its descent six minutes.
Due to the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites. who followed InSight throughout the six-month journey and 300 million miles (482 million kilometers).
Both satellites not only transmitted the good news almost in real time, they also sent the first snapshot of InSight on Mars barely 4½ minutes after landing.
The photo was covered with dust because the dust cover was still visible on the LG camera, but the terrain seemed at first sight smooth. and sandy with only a considerable rock visible – about what the scientists had hoped. Better photos are expected in the coming days.
This was NASA's eighth successful landing, and even humanity, from the 1976 Viking Probe, and the first in six years. The NASA Curiosity robot, arrived in 2012, is still moving on Mars.
"Flawless," said JPL Chief Engineer Rob Manning. "That's what we really hoped and imagined in our minds," he added. "Sometimes things turn out to your advantage."
NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, who was presiding over his first landing on Mars as head of the space agency, said, "What an extraordinary day for our country."
InSight, part of a $ 1 billion international mission including a mechanized mole headed by Germany that will dig a depth of 5 meters to measure the planet's internal heat. Nothing has ever dug deeper into Mars than several inches. The LG also has a French-made seismometer to measure earthquakes, though they exist at our smaller, geologically quieter neighbor.
Another experiment will calculate the oscillation of Mars to reveal the composition of the planet's nucleus.
Months and even years, history books will be rewritten on the inside of March, "said Michael Watkins, director of the JPL.
Many spacecraft bound for Mars launched by the United States, Russia and other space-loving countries have been lost or destroyed over the years. , with a success rate of only 40%, not counting InSight.
This time, NASA adopted its simple and straight forward approach, using a parachute and braking motors to get the speed of InSight from 12,300 km / h (19,800 km / h) when it perca the Martian. atmosphere, about 77 miles (114 km), at 5 mph (8 km / h) to the touch. The danger was that the spacecraft could be consumed in the atmosphere or bouncing back.
Three-legged InSight is installed on the west side of Elysium Planitia, the plain targeted by NASA. Project leader Tom Hoffman said the probe had landed near the center of the target, but that NASA had not completed the calculations yet.
It was hard to tell from the first picture where there were slopes nearby, but it seemed that he had gotten the "parking lot" flat and smooth that he was hoping .
Museums, planetariums, and libraries throughout the United States have organized viewing sessions to follow the course of events at the JPL. NASA TV also broadcasted the giant screen of Times Square in New York, where the crowd snuggled under an umbrella in the rain.
InSight, 800 pounds (360 pounds), is still and will work in the same place for the next two years, the duration of a Martian year. His first job was to get a quick picture. The next task was to unfold his solar panels. NASA wanted to wait 16 minutes for the dust to settle before attempting this; It was waiting for us Monday night to find out how it was.
It will take months to install and adjust the instruments. Senior scientist Bruce Banerdt said he did not expect to receive a flow of reliable data by the end of next spring and that the entire mission may have to genuinely get the goods.
I can not wait to start seeing marsquakes, "said Hoffman.
The well-preserved interior of Mars provides insights into what the Earth might have looked like after its formation, there are 4 , 5 billion years ago, according to Banerdt, while Earth is seismic, Mars "decided to rest on its laurels" after its formation, he said.
By examining and mapping the Inside Mars, scientists hope to understand why the rocky planets of our solar system have turned out to be so different, and why the Earth has become a refuge for life.
Still, there is not of life detectors aboard InSight NASA's next mission, the rover March 2020, will be prowling for rocks likely to contain traces of ancient life.
The question of whether life has ever existed in the wet and watery past of Mars is what allows for bring NASA back to the fourth rock of the sun.
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