NASA’s InSight Lander Shares New Mars Images After Flexing Its Robotic Arm
We recently reported that NASA’s InSight lander finally touched down gently at Elysium Planitia landing site.
InSight landed at 2:54 ET on Elysium Planitia, just seven minutes after it entered the Martian atmosphere. The lander has been able to successfully deploy its solar panels after it landed on the Red Planet.
Next, the team was supposed to deploy the lander’s robotic arm and use the attached camera to click pics of the surroundings.
Eventually, InSight will take the dust covers off and then it would start sending home clearer images. Once the lens caps are off, they’re off for good.
‘We are looking forward to higher-definition pictures to confirm this preliminary assessment,’ said JPL’s Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator of InSight.
Three key instruments
The Daily Mail details what are InSight’s three key instruments that will allow taking the “pulse” of the Red Planet.
Seismometer
This is called SEIS, and it listens to the pulse of the planet. It records waves that are traveling through the interior of the planet.
Studying the seismic waves can tell us what’s creating them. Here, on Mars, experts believe that the culprits may be Marsquakes or meteorites that are striking the planet.
Heat probe
This is called HP3, and it burrows deeper than any other scoops, drills or probes that have been on Mars so far. It will investigate how much heat is flowing out of Mars.
Radio antennas
Just like Earth, Mars wobbles a little bit as it rotates around the axis. Two radio antennas which are part of the RISE instrument, track the location of the lander very precisely.
This will be helping experts to test the reflexes of the planet and tell them “how the deep interior structure affects the planet’s motion around the Sun,” according to Daily Mail.
You can read the complete article on Daily Mail to find out more details.
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