Cartoon of the Week: NASA’s InSight Mars Lander is safely on the Red Planet
On Monday, NASA’s InSight Mars Lander survived ‘seven minutes of terror’ to finally arrive safely on Mars, taking up permanent residence on the Red Planet.
Following the dramatic touchdown, InSight has unfurled its solar arrays and is now ready to get down to business.
Two days after landing on Mars, NASA’s InSight lander is already sending back some selfies.
‘The InSight team can rest a little easier … now that we know the spacecraft solar arrays are deployed and recharging the batteries,’ Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
The aim of this mission is to investigate what is inside Mars, to listen for ‘Marsquakes’ and to figure out how many meteorites batter the Red Planet. This will take a lot of patience from the NASA guys as they explore the interior of Mars.
‘Landing was thrilling, but I’m looking forward to the drilling,’ InSight principal investigator Bruce Banerdt said in a statement.
The NASA team is now going over a checklist to see if the lander is in good health and will stand up to time and conditions. As soon as Insight’s instruments are set up, they will be listening for Marsquakes for at least two years.
InSight will be stuck in place for the whole period so that it can collaborate with the NASA team and shape our understanding of not just Mars but also Earth, other planets and the whole universe.
Follow eXo Platform’s board Cartoon of the Week on Pinterest.