NASA spacecraft lands on red planet after six-month journey

New Mars image

It was NASA's ninth attempt to land at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes. Mission control erupted into cheers as Insight hit the Elysium Planitia, and NASA cameras captured two scientists doing a truly wonderful celebration handshake that rivals anything in the National Basketball Association. InSight also has an experiment (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment, or RISE) that will precisely measure the planet's "wobble" to reveal the size and density of the Martian core. America isn't good at everything; but we're very, very good at Mars-and that is, and very much ought to be, a source of national uplift.

The robotic will slow down from 12,300 miles per hour to zero in six minutes flat as it pierces the Martian atmosphere, pops out a parachute, fires its descent engines and, hopefully, lands on three legs.

Settling In InSight's first few days on the Red Planet won't be as eventful as the probe's nerve-wracking descent and landing. Ultimately, by giving Mars an internal examination we'll be able to compare the Red Planet's composition with Earth's, greatly improving our understanding of how planets in our solar system-and even exoplanets orbiting other stars-actually form.

NASA last landed on Mars in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.

The heat shield soared to a temperature of 2,700 Fahrenheit (about 1,500 Celsius) before it was discarded, the three landing legs deployed and the parachute popped out, easing InSight down to the Martian surface.

Cavs have reached out to Sixers about Markelle Fultz
The possibility of Fultz moving on is understandable considering how confusing things have been with the Sixers. Fultz, 20, is averaging 8 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds a game for Philadelphia so far this season.

General Motors To Lay Off Nearly 15,000 Workers, Close Plants
The US automaker has other operations in Canada, including a plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, where it assembles Chevrolet Equinox. GM's Oshawa plant assembles the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS and finishes Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks.

Oprah Winfrey's mother dies age 83
Winfrey has been open about the rough relationship she had with her mother early on, though the two became closer in later years. She was the number one supporter of Pat's [Alisha's restaurant] and was the person who named our restaurant.

"There's a reason engineers call landing on Mars 'seven minutes of terror, '" Rob Grover, InSight's entry, descent and landing (EDL) lead, said Monday, Sputnik reported. While surveying the landing site during the planning phase of InSight's mission, scientists studied the ejecta from small impact craters scattered across Elysium Planitia. "It's such a hard thing, it's such a unsafe thing that there's always a fairly uncomfortably large chance that something could go wrong". The stationary 360-kilogram lander will use its 6 feet robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. The satellite also shot back a quick photo from Mars' surface.

Manning said the landing appeared to be flawless. No other country has managed to set and operate a spacecraft on the dusty surface. "We just love that shaking, and so the more shaking it does, the better we can see the inside".

InSight has no life-detecting capability, however.

Insight will now embark on a two-year mission that aims to shine new light on how the Red Planet was formed by looking deep beneath the surface. That will be part of NASA's next mission, the Mars 2020 rover, which will prowl for rocks that might contain evidence of ancient life.

Related:

Comments

Latest news

‘We Will Close the Border Permanently if Need Be’
He said on Twitter yesterday: "To those in the caravan, turnaround we are not letting people into the United States illegally ". The breakoff group from the migrant caravan were met and stopped by Mexican police; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles.

Nooses found by Mississippi Capitol day before Senate runoff
News reports that the nooses were found on Monday morning, along with hate signs, outside the capitol building. He says the matter is under investigation, and he did not immediately know what was on the signs.

Melania Trump unveils White House Christmas decorations
The tree hails from a farm in Avery County, North Carolina, and was hand-selected by the National Christmas Tree Association. Louis, and Chicago and are meant to highlight "diversity and ingenuity of American architecture and design".

Target's Cyber Monday Deals Do Not Disappoint
Target was offering 30 per cent off on select toys, while Kohl's discounted Lego sets between 30 per cent and 40 per cent. The long shopping weekend isn't over just yet, as Amazon's Cyber Monday 2018 deals have gone live in Canada.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Already Breaking Records With Pre-Orders
You can collect these by unlocking challenges on the Spirit Board, and through the single-player World of Light adventure mode. They've been slowly revealing the modes, the characters, the moves, the Assist Trophies and Pokemon, and much more.

Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Moving Out of Kensington Palace
The couple were originally scheduled to move into a Kensington Palace apartment next to William and Kate . It had been claimed tensions between the two brothers had caused the change of plans.

General Motors to cut 14000 jobs as seven factories close worldwide
The union representing the autoworkers, Unifor, said at the time the investment dispelled fears the factory would close in 2019. In 2009, GM shut down truck assembly at the plant, citing high gas prices and a deep recession caused by the financial crisis.

American on deadly trip to Indian island: ‘God sheltered me’
He knew how risky it would be, and told people about his trip plan as long ago as 2016, a friend told BuzzFeed News and CNN. The Anthropological Survey of India has had previous rudimentary contact with the tribe - with one of its officials, C.

Italy's rugby team don rainbow laces for Welsh legend
New Zealand said in a tweet on Friday its players would wear the rainbow laces in a tribute to Thomas in Saturday's test match against Italy .

Alien: Blackout will likely be announced at the Game Awards
Trademark applications do not always result in announcements of a new product. A new Alien game for console and PC was announced in January this year .

‘Good chance of death’: Musk to move to Mars
Today, the USA pays $81 million per seat in Russian Soyuz spacecraft - the only option of getting humans into space at the moment. In a recent interview for Axios on HBO , Musk said the likelihood that he will personally go to Mars is 70 percent.

Fernando Alonso bids 'special' F1 farewell ahead of his hardest challenge
Johnson will drive Alonso's McLaren F1 auto after spending over six hours on the simulator at the team's headquarters in Woking. Asked if the scale of the moment had sunk in, Alonso said: "Not yet". "And they just gave him a penalty each time".

BRITAIN: Parliament Seizes Internal Facebook Docs
He said: "It has not answered our questions about who knew what, when with regards to the Cambridge Analytica scandal". A serjeant was sent to his hotel to issue a final call and communicate a two-hour deadline to comply with the order.

Gov. Colyer issues State of Disaster Emergency in winter storm
Temps in the mid 30s falling to the low 30s with winds NNW 10-20 miles per hour gusting to 30 miles per hour at times. Kluber predicted rain will give way to heavy snowfall and "near whiteout conditions" that will make for unsafe travel.

PM Narendra Modi Says Congress in Power During Mumbai Attacks
The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel will hold a private service to remember the 31 people who died there. The United Nations 1267 has designated LeT to the Consolidated UN Security Council Sanctions List.

Other news

Copyright © 2015. All Rights reserved - Wisdom Save