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Landing on Mars is an incredibly difficult feat, a process that has claimed numerous probes and spacecraft over the last 50 years. On Monday, NASA landed its InSight probe after six months of traveling through 300 million kilometers of space. According to the latest reports from NASA engineers, InSight has now deployed its range of solar panels in order to recharge its batteries every day. The probe also sent back its first clear picture of the Martian surface.
The photo was taken on November 26, 2018, the same day that InSight landed on the red planet. The probe camera is always covered with a clear dust cover designed to prevent damage to the lens during landing. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
The signal that the solar panels had been successfully deployed was transmitted to Earth around 5:30 pm PST (8:30 pm EST) from the NASA Mars Odyssey Orbiter. The double solar panels each measure 2.2 meters wide when they are fully open. It's now about the size of a big convertible in the 1960s. But because Mars is so far away from the Sun than the Earth, the amount of sunlight reaching the red planet is also lower. The panels must provide power of about 600 to 700 watts on a clear day and 200 to 300 watts are covered with dust, which is practically the norm. Fortunately, sophisticated probe instruments do not require a lot of energy and InSight's solar panels should be more than capable of recharging the batteries.
"The InSight team can rest a little easier tonight when we know that the spacecraft's solar panels are deployed and are recharging the batteries," said Tom Hoffman, InSight's project manager at the propulsion laboratory of the NASA in Pasadena, California, in a statement. "The day was long for the team. But tomorrow begins an exciting new chapter for InSight: the surface operations and the beginning of the instrument deployment phase. "
InSight's mission differs from that of any other spacecraft sent to Mars. All of our previous probes have studied the planet's environment above ground, but InSight focuses on what's happening beneath the surface by listening to "marsquakes". By studying these light seismic waves, scientists want to determine what constitutes the mantle and core of the planet. InSight will primarily study seismic waves as they traverse the red planet, using this information as a kind of ultrasound to determine what lies beneath the crust.
InSight will also help scientists better understand how the solar system has formed and evolved. Mars and Earth are rocky planets that have had a lot of water on their surface during their rich history. However, the two planets have a very different appearance today: the Earth is wet and teeming with life while Mars is barren and dead.
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Next, NASA will use a robotic arm to deploy instruments on the surface of Mars, including the valuable seismometer and a heat flow sensor. However, it will take at least three months before seismic data becomes available. This is because NASA wants to make sure the instruments are properly configured and calibrated. Meanwhile, InSight will use its weather sensors and magnetometer to take measurements from its landing site at Elysium Planitia.
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