Insight lander offers an enhanced vision of Mars beneath the surface. The mission will take 6+ months to complete. Pictured, an artist's concept of InSight with its instruments on Mars. (Photo Credit: JPL-CALTECH/NASA)
A new mission to Mars hopes to expand and enhance our understanding of the red planet's internal structure. On Saturday, NASA had launched a robotic instrument with a hammer and quake monitor. However, the journey had a different approach - one that launched for the first time ever, from the West Coast in California rather than the usual spot in Florida's Cape Canaveral.
The journey will take 6+ months to reach Mars, and it will have traveled over 300 million miles to get there to begin its excavation mission. The Insight will dig in the deepest area recorded to date - at a depth of 16ft to take the temperature of the planet, and it will also attempt to measure Mars-quakes using a high-tech seismometer instrument established on the surface.
The rocket, Atlas V was also equipped with two CubeSats - mini satellites designed to follow Insight on the way to Mars. It will be demonstrated for the first time in this mission. Scientists from around the world in Europe, US, France and Germany are expected to gather and partake in this $1 billion mission.
This will be the first time NASA sets a spacecraft down on Mars since 2012 when they first launched and set the Curiosity rover on the planet's surface. So far, the US is the only country in the world to successfully launch, land and operate a spacecraft on Mars with only 40% from other countries - orbiters and landers have been successful. If the mission is successful, the lander will descend via parachute and engine firings on a completely flat surface of Mars. The area is meant to be free of potentially big, dangerous rocks and the landing will take place on November 26th. Once it has landed, the lander will stay put and will use a mechanical arm to place instruments on the surface.
The objective of this mission is to study Mars' interior, giving ideas of the size, core, mantle, crust and comparing those with Earth's. Scientists believe it is a fundamental step to understanding the solar system and how it was shaped the way it is today. It seems that Mars is the most ideal planet for studying how rocky planets in our solar system formed four and a half billion years ago. Differences between Mars and Earth is that Mars has not been formed by tectonic plates like those found on Earth.
Over the course of a Martian year - which is ideally two Earth years, scientists expect the experiments on Mars to provide a true 3D image of the planet. The lander is equipped with a seismometer to measure quakes, a hammering probe to dig beneath the surface and finally, a radio system to pinpoint and track the lander's position on the planet and its rotation to reveal the true size and composition of the planet. The launch was delayed by two years due to issues with the seismometer. California was always going to be the launch site of the spacecraft due to a shorter journey time to Mars, and it was the first time a mission was launched elsewhere other than Florida by NASA.
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