NASA landed its InSight robot on Mars on Monday. The robot will take the pulse of the planet, checking its vital signs with a suite of science instruments.
InSight, built by Lockheed Martin, launched from California on a United Launch Alliance rocket seven months ago and cruised more than 301,223,981 miles before jettisoning down to the red planet and landing with the help of a parachute and retro-rockets.
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Here are five things to know about NASA's eighth successful robot landing on Mars:
When does the science start?
InSight still has a few more boxes to check before it starts collecting data to reveal information about the Mars core.
Next, InSight will unfurl its solar panels and robotic arm. The lander is parked near the Martian equator, which is bright enough to power the lander's solar panels for the duration of its mission.
It will take two to three months before the science instruments are deployed. The lander is equipped with science instruments that will determine how thick the Martian crust is, what its core is made of and the temperature of the inner planet.
Marsquakes
The overall science goals for InSight are to help us understand how rocky planets form and study tectonic activity on Mars, including marsquakes.
InSight's Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, or SEIS, is a six-sensor seismometer that combines two types of sensors to measure ground motions in different frequencies. Seismometers may sound familiar because they are used here on Earth to locate and measure earthquakes.
SEIS will be the first siesmometer placed on the Martian surface.
It's landing site: Elysium Planitia
InSight will study the interior of Mars by drilling down in a mostly flat area called Elysium Planitia.
The area was chosen for its smooth, flat surface, to make InSight’s touchdown as safe as possible. The plain is just 373 miles from NASA’s Mars Curiosity’s landing site in the Gale Crater.
A clear landing site was needed for InSight, because, unlike Curiosity’s study of the Martian surface Insight is focused on what’s underneath the planet’s surface. It will land anywhere in a 60-mile area.
The lander will stay in the same spot for the duration of its mission.
Phoning home sooner
Two small spacecraft, called MarCo CubeSat A and B, followed InSight on its flight to Mars and tracked the spacecraft as it made entry into the Martian atmosphere and landed on the planet's surface. Due to communication delays between Earth and Mars, NASA officials hope to use these MarCO CubeSats to communicate with InSight more efficiently.
The satellites provided NASA the ability to quickly transmit status information about InSight, including receive the first image of the Martian surface from InSight minutes after it landed.
This is important, because if the MarCO mission succeeds, the CubeSat method could be used for future Mars missions, or for missions to other planets, to cut down on the communication time between atmospheric entry and touchdown, which is typically a blackout.
"The experimental MarCO CubeSats have also opened a new door to smaller planetary spacecraft," said Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The success of these two unique missions is a tribute to the hundreds of talented engineers and scientists who put their genius and labor into making this a great day."
InSight will be one of Mars' few residents
The journey to Mars has been perilous for robots from NASA, as well as for other international space agencies that have made attempts.
NASA is the only agency to successfully land robotic missions on the red planet. The first was Viking in 1976, which was a lander and an orbiter.
Since then, NASA has successfully landed six other robotic missions on Mars.
Currently, only two rovers are still working on the red planet: Curiosity and Opportunity. NASA is still working to restore communication with Opportunity after a dust storm cut off light needed for the nearly 15-year-old rover's solar power.
NASA plans to launch another, more advanced rover in 2020 that will look for signs of life on Mars.