This picture of Mars by an interplanetary cubesat is absolutely amazing

NASA's satellite pair, Mars Cube One, broke all records in its path. The two tiny hitchhikers on Mars were the first small satellites to leave Earth's immediate orbit. They provided updates in near real time on the success of a mission. They are now the first to capture the magnificent farewell portrait of another planet.

The satellites, nicknamed MarCO, were launched with NASA's InSight March lander in May 2018 and were hauling the largest spacecraft during its journey to the red planet. During the dangerous landing procedure of this spacecraft today (November 26th), they gathered the beeps emitted by InSight and relayed them on Earth, to the delight of one. anxious staff of NASA, confirming in minutes that the procedure had been effective. . You can see other amazing photos of the March InSight landing day here.

"It was a fantastic day for space ships, big and small, and our spaceship is very small, only the size of a briefcase," said Andrew Klesh, chief engineer at MarCO, during the night. a press conference held today at NASA. "MarCO was there to relay information coming from InSight in real time, and we did it extremely well." [NASA’s InSight Mars Lander: Full Coverage]

But they were not finished yet. "We have another gift that we can offer to the InSight community," said Klesh, unveiling a new photo. Before the MarCO project came at sunset, it accomplished another feat, when MarCO-B turned to Mars and sent another image to the house.

Each MarCO satellite was equipped with a camera and the photos of the project during the approach of Mars showed a captivating – but tiny – global point of view even in an image captured on November 24, just two days before the flyby .

The image captured on November 26 shows Mars looming alongside the grid-shaped flat antenna that each MarCO satellite uses to communicate with the Earth. When MarCO-B took the picture, 10 or 15 minutes after InSight's touchdown, the satellite was about 7,500 km from the red planet, Klesh said.

The task accomplished, the MarCO duo passed Mars and continued its course in a stable orbit around the sun. The paired spacecraft will progressively move away from the Earth, but the MarCO team hopes to learn more about the lifespan of such small planets in outer space – and whether they can rock in front of an asteroid or two they will do it.

But for Klesh, MarCO-B's departure for Mars is a poignant moment for his team and for InSight. "This image is truly our farewell to InSight, our wish for good luck and our farewell to Mars itself as we continue to carry out our primary mission."

Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.