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The NASA InSight spacecraft opened the lens cap of its instrument context camera (ICC) on November 30, 2018 and captured this view of Mars. Located beneath the InSight lander's bridge, the ICC has a fisheye view, creating a curved horizon. Some clumps of dust are still visible on the lens of the camera. One of the spacecraft's buffers is visible in the lower right corner. The seismometer attachment box is in the upper left corner. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
With the safety of InSight on the surface of Mars, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission team in Pasadena, Calif., Is using it to learn more about the site. landing of the spacecraft. They knew, during the landing of InSight on November 26, that the probe had landed on the target, a plain of lava called Elysium Planitia. Now, they determined that the vehicle was slightly tilted (about 4 degrees) in a shallow impact crater filled with dust and sand, known as "Hollow". InSight has been designed to operate on a surface with a maximum incline of 15 degrees.
"The science team was hoping to land in a sandy area with few rocks since the choice of the landing site, so we could not be happier," said Tom Hoffman, InSight Project Manager at JPL. "There are no landing strips or tracks on Mars, so going down into an area that is basically a big sandbox without big rocks should facilitate the deployment of the instruments and provide a great place to our mole to start digging. "
The rock garden and slope slope contribute to safety during the landing and are also important in determining if InSight can successfully complete its mission after the landing. Rocks and slopes could affect InSight's ability to place its heat flux probe, also called "mole" or HP.3– and an ultra-sensitive seismometer, called SEIS, on the surface of Mars.
Having landed on a steep slope in the wrong direction could also have compromised the spacecraft's ability to obtain adequate power output from its two solar panels, while landing next to an aircraft. Big rock could have prevented InSight from opening any of these signs. In fact, both bays fully deployed shortly after landing.
The preliminary assessment by the InSight scientific team of the photographs taken so far in the landing area suggests that the area in the immediate vicinity of the landing gear is populated by only a few rocks. The high-resolution images are expected to begin arriving in the coming days, after InSight publishes clear plastic dust caps that have secured the optics of both spacecraft cameras during the day. ;landing.
As seen in this set of two-image images, NASA's InSight probe unlocked its robotic arm on November 27, 2018, the day after it landed on Mars. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
"We are eagerly awaiting better-defined images to confirm this preliminary assessment," said Bruce Banerdt of JPL, head of investigation at InSight. "If these few images (with dust cover reducing the resolution) are accurate, it bodes well for the deployment of the instrument and the penetration of moles into our experience of heat flux beneath the surface."
Once the sites on the Martian surface have been carefully selected for the two main instruments, the team relocates and starts the first trials of the mechanical arm that will place them there.
Downlink data from the LG also indicate that on its first full day on Mars, the solar-powered InSight spacecraft generated more electric power than any previous vehicle on the surface of March.
"It's great to get our first" off-world record "on our first full day on Mars," said Hoffman. "But even better than generating more electricity than any mission in front of us is what it represents for our future engineering tasks – the 4,588 watts-hour that we produced during the first phase of this project means we have enough resources to accomplish these tasks and move forward with our science mission. "
Launched May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, InSight will operate on the surface for one Martian year, plus 40 Martian days, or soils, equivalent to nearly two Earth years. InSight will study the deep interior of Mars to understand how all celestial bodies have formed on rocky surfaces, including the Earth and the Moon.
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