InSight has landed! Inside the dramatic touch

First photo of InSight taken from the Martian surface. (Credit: NASA)

Landing on Mars

The NASA InSight lander has spent nearly seven months in space, traveling more than 300 million kilometers on a strange but carefully calculated trajectory from Earth to Mars. After a long journey, the probe finally landed successfully on the Martian surface.

The InSight spacecraft was launched on May 5th from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California. With a multitude of scientific instruments on board, the lander will study the inside of the red planet and collect revolutionary data on the composition of Mars and the tectonic activity of the planet.

At 2:54 pm EST, InSight – which corresponds to an inland exploration using seismic surveys, geodesy and heat transport – has landed on Mars. As it descended to the Martian surface, the probe penetrated for the first time into the atmosphere of Mars, 80 miles above the surface. At about seven miles in altitude, InSight then deployed a giant parachute to help reduce speed as the craft approached the surface. Less than a minute later, the 12 retractors from InSight fired, giving the probe additional braking force and allowing it to settle perfectly on the surface of the planet.

A tense landing

NASA engineers were forced to wait until the end of the landing to know if it was successful, because communications between Mars and Earth had taken eight minutes late, and the landing had taken only seven minutes about. Thus, from the moment the craft entered the atmosphere of Mars until touchdown, JPL engineers anxiously crossed their fingers, ignoring the status of the craft. During those seven long minutes, nicknamed the "Seven Minutes of Terror," engineers waited to confirm if the probe landed safely, which, fortunately, did. "It was intense and the emotion was palpable," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told NASA's Landing Livestream about the success of the landing. However, this tension became a source of excitement when InSight landed. "The excitement here is incredible," said Bridenstine.

The InSight mission team waited and "monitored" the probe's landing by monitoring InSight radio signals using radio telescopes on Earth and various spacecraft, according to a NASA press release. Two of these spacecraft, known as Mars Cube Ones, or MarCO, will work to transmit, if possible, an InSight image of the Martian surface immediately after landing. In addition, the mission team hopes to have more images in about five hours.

S & # 39; install

The first moments and the first hours of InSight on the red planet will not be as hectic as the challenging descent and landing for the probe. In fact, it will take two to three months before InSight's robotic arm puts its instruments on the Martian surface, according to a statement from NASA.

"It took more than ten years to move from InSight from a concept to a spacecraft approaching Mars – and even longer since I was inspired for the first time to undertake this type of operation. of mission. But even after landing, we will have to be patient so that science can begin, "said Bruce Banerdt of JPL, principal investigator of InSight, according to the NASA press release.

But, while researchers will have to wait patiently for scientific data, InSight will still be able to capture valuable information shortly after landing. Before its scientific instruments can be deployed, InSight will photograph and monitor the terrain and the surrounding environment. This will allow NASA engineers to monitor Elysium Planitia, the "perfect", "vanilla" landing site of InSight.