How is the InSight interplanetary station built and what will it do on Mars?

InSight became the eighth camera that began functioning on the red planet

Monday A dramatic event took place on November 26 millions of kilometers from Earth: around 9 pm, Kiev time, began the most important step of the work of dozens of scientists and of engineers: their newborn – the InSight interplanetary station, after a seven-month space expedition – began to descend into the sparse atmosphere of the mysterious planet.

At 9:45 pm in Kiev, mission participants and many viewers from around the world (broadcast events organized by NASA) softened their sighs. Zeros: The interplanetary station reached the surface of Mars without excess and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's control center received a signal from the landing module confirming the arrival without damage. In a few minutes, InSight integrated a more powerful radio transmitter and sent information on the status of the station's systems

. the mission experts were busy checking the equipment and preparing it for work, calculated for at least two years.

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A few billion a few years ago [1 9659012] The Earth and March had a lot of [19659011] of common rice . of thickness saturated with atmospheric moisture . ] enveloped the two planets however 3-4 billion years something disturbed : of the Earth preserved [19659012] the Ocean and disappeared air the surfaces In they came up life and went from to lands . Finally, on of the Earth arose of the man [19659012] civilization .

And the depths of our planet remain alive. In the ocean ridges, a new earth crust is born, it moves the continents along the surface. In tidal zones and along faults, tectonic blocks collide, rub or even submerge one by one.

Unlike the Earth, the development of Mars has stopped. On its surface, there are no tectonic plates in motion, volcanism has stopped, even when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. There is no liquid water on the surface and the atmosphere is sparse. In addition, gas molecules, its constituents, continually propagate in the outer space.

"What are the reasons for such a divergence between the latter, at the origin of similar planets? Figuratively, the work of the station will go back in time and understand what allowed to Earth to stay green alive and why Mars has stopped developing, "says Bruce Banerdt, chief investigator of InSight Mars mission.

In all previous expeditions, all scientific equipment was part of the landing module. The mission of InSight Mars – the first expedition on the Red Planet, during which devices running permanently will be installed directly on the surface of the planet. The equipment "arrived" at the work place on the landing module, after the landing and all the verification procedures, the mechanical arm will remove it and lower it to the ground. Two cameras (at the station and a mechanical arm) will show this operation to the operators on Earth. A seismometer (designed and built by the French space agency CNES) and a heat flow measurement probe will be installed (creation of the German Aerospace Center DLR). A specialized radar on the station's body will follow the displacement of the North Pole during the rotation of the planet: these measurements will provide information on the size of the Martian nucleus. In addition, the station installed sensors to monitor weather conditions and changes in the magnetic field.

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