NASA craft lands on Mars after perilous journey
83 views · Published 2 December 2018 · 3:45 · Indexed 28 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(27 Nov 2018) A NASA spacecraft designed to drill down into Mars' interior landed on the planet Monday after a perilous, supersonic plunge through its red skies after a trip across 100 million miles (160 million kilometres) of space. Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, celebrated upon learning that InSight had safely arrived on Mars, the graveyard for a multitude of previous missions. Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites that had been trailing InSight throughout the six-month, 300-million-mile (482-million-kilometre) journey. The two experimental satellites not only transmitted the good news in almost real time, they also sent back InSight's first snapshot of Mars just four-and-a-half minutes after landing. The picture was speckled with debris because the dust cover was still on the lander's camera, but the terrain at first glance looked smooth and sandy with just one sizable rock visible - pretty much what scientists had hoped for. Better photos are expected in the days ahead. Another experiment will calculate Mars' wobble to reveal the makeup of the planet's core. The 800-pound (360-kilogram) InSight is stationary and will operate from the same spot for the next two years, the duration of a Martian year. Its first job was to get a fast picture out. The next task was the unfolding of its solar panels. NASA wanted to wait 16 minutes for the dust to settle before attempting that; it was awaiting word Monday night on how that went. Lead scientist Bruce Banerdt warned it will be a slow-motion mission. The instruments will have to be set up and fine-tuned. He said he doesn't expect to start getting a stream of solid data until late next spring, and it may take the entire mission to attain really good results. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f4bbd4ca7f87d8400c50ef4487d6fc7d
