NASA arrived on Red Planet and InSight on Mars

The NASA robot "InSight" landed on Mars and has already sent first images of the Red Planet. A video of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) shows a virtual overflight over the landing site Elysium Planitia.

After a journey of approximately 485 million kilometers, the lender launched in May "InSight" set off on the Elysium Planitia plain north of the Mars equator on the red planet on Monday.

In the photographs of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the supraregional topography of the landing site can be seen within a radius of a few hundred kilometers from different perspectives. The first scene is approaching from north to south with the Elysium Mons, about 13 kilometers high, followed by a loop and overflight of the Elysium Planitia plain from southeast to northwest with a view to the landing ellipse and finally a third "flight leg" Northeast to southwest on the area north of the crater Gale, the NASA Rover Curiosity examined since 2012.

The two round awnings with a diameter of about 2.20 meters have already collected sunlight on Mars, said NASA. In clear air, they can generate 700-watt energy for the probe. "The InSight team is able to rest a little easier tonight - now that we know the awnings are extended and recharge the batteries," Project Manager Tom Hoffmann said.

What is InSight?

InSight is a stationary geophysical observatory and a mission of the NASA Discovery Program. On board, the provincial probe is, inter alia, a French seismometer for recording quake waves and vibrations resulting from meteorite and asteroid impacts as well as the thermal probe HP developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package).

From January 2019, the Mars mole will hammer fully automatically down to five meters into the underground of the Red Planet and help measure its internal warmth. A few hours earlier, the probe had landed on Mars. "Landing confirmed!" NASA said from her control center in Pasadena, California. Their loud cheers broke out, scientists jumped up and hugged each other.

A few minutes later, InSight already sent a first photo of the Red Planet. Although the picture was very blurry, that was probably due to the clouds of dust raised during the landing. In the coming days, InSight may be busy finding suitable locations to place their gauges with a robotic arm.

Although Europe has not yet managed its own successful Mars landing but is involved with various high technology on the InSight mission. The Graz Institute for Space Research (IMF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is involved in the evaluation of the data.

The experimental equipment aboard the landing platform includes a ramming probe built in Germany, which is to hammer a hole on the surface of Mars down to a depth of five meters. A French seismometer is on board. 

With the InSight stationary geophysical observatory, the scientists want to investigate the interior of Mars and its structure for the first time in the next two years. This should be measured possible shocks and earthquakes on the planet. The researchers hope to discover, among other things, how Mars arose billions of years ago.