InSight has landed on Mars

noviembre 27, 2018

InSight has landed on Mars https://danielmarin.naukas.com/files/2018/11/Ds-c8TlU0AE0pO2.jpg

On November 26 at 19:44:52 UTC the NASA InSight spacecraft became the eighth spacecraft to land successfully on Mars and send data and images to Earth. Previously, InSight had separated from its cruise stage at 19:31 UTC 1,100 kilometers away from the red planet. The EDL stage (entrance, descent and landing), better known as "the x minutes of terror" (x = 7 for InSight), started at 19:38 UTC at 128 kilometers altitude. The parachute was deployed 12 kilometers high at 19:42 UTC and the thermal shield separated at 19:42 UTC at 9 kilometers high. The ship separated at 19:44 UTC and began its descent propelled avoiding colliding with the backshell and the parachute. Finally landed without problems in Elysium Planitia. NASA has once again made it seem easy to land on Mars.

The InSight instrument cover seen by the robot arm camera (NASA).

Against all odds, the two MarCO cubes launched alongside InSight continued to operate during the descent of the probe and flew over Mars about 1,700 kilometers away and managed to transmit telemetry of the event, which validates its use for future missions. The InSight data has been transmitted to Earth using the Mars Odyssey and MRO orbiter. The first images reveal that the landing area is as flat as expected and free of large rocks. Now InSight must deploy its main instruments, the French seismometer SEIS and the drill to measure the German temperature HP3, in front of the probe using the robot arm in a series of very delicate operations. Do not forget that the purpose of the mission is to determine the internal structure of Mars. In any case, the important thing is that we are back on Mars.

The first image of InSight from the fuselage camera. The black dots are the dust that has stuck to the protective cover of the camera, cover that will be released in the next few days (NASA).

For Spain in particular this mission is a success because one of the instruments, the TWINS weather station, has been designed in our country. Spain happens to have two meteorological stations operating at the same time on Mars (together with REMS of Curiosity). The InSight probe uses the same design as the Mars Polar Lander and the Phoenix, so we can say that it is a more than mature landing system that can continue to be used in relatively low cost missions in the future. On the other hand, the design of the cruise stage and the heat shield have been used in five missions (in addition to those mentioned, the MER and Mars Pathfinder). It's not bad at all.

View of Mars by the cubesat MarCO B (NASA).