NASA's InSight went safely to the land in Marsen

Thanks to the interplanetary space, Monday was held. NASA's InSight nuclear power station landed on Mars to begin a two-year study of the heart of our planet. Since NASA's Mars Landing touched on Curiosity Rover in 2012.

After making a trip of 300 million miles, he touched the Earth at around 2:54 p.m. around ET and took his landing area. (It covers the dust of the forbidden lenses, but you can also make the ground and horizon in Marsen. Finally, the dust cover will be removed and we will have more images of InSight.)

NASA / JPL

You can see NASA's mission control live streaming video below.

And here's why landing was so harrowing: because the spacecraft is so far away, NASA's mission scientists were unable to pilot the InSight Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Terrestrial radio transitions are delayed for a few minutes. And curiosity as a bicycle, InSight needed only 6.5 minutes to land.

Now we have to wait a few hours to confirm that InSight's solar panels have been opened.

Marsen robot spacecraft is not easy

It has a large engineering in the lands of Marte, and it is millions of kilometers away.

Challenge: Red Planet has the same plane of gravitation as the Earth, but unlike the Earth, it will not slow down the atmosphere space. InSight traveled to 12,300 mph, and in a 6.5-minute drive he had to slow down at 5 mph.

The landing happened at some stages of the NASA scientists carefully programmed. First, separated from the "cruise stage" of the InSight mission. It is part of the art that makes the transition between Earth and Mars, and it is necessary to leave Insight in space.

Afterwards, Insight had to be a heat shield that was dying in the atmosphere, that is, about 70 miles from the planet's surface.

NASA / JPL-Caltech

He protected this heat shaft, slowing to 12,300 km / h, 1,000 km / h, for just two minutes. Then, 10 kilometers above the surface, he threw a heat shield and opened a parapet. But parachute was not enough to slow down landing speeds.

This was the most harrowing part: InSight had to be his land, and he must be prepared less than an ideal condition, like a dust storm.

About a mile above Mars, InSight let go of the parachute and turned on some thrusters. Immediately he had to maneuver to go off the blast.

With Radar, InSight slowed down to a smooth landing. On landing, the impulse had to be immediately deactivated. (If Insight is scattered on the surface, it is not thrown away).

NASA / JPL-Caltech

InSight Mars landed on a land called Elysium Planitia, a plain and flat equator. The site was partially selected, because InSight will be solar energy, and it has been providing enough sunlight for about two years now.

So what will InSight do?

InSight landed, he stayed. It is not a vehicle like wisdom. And it does not have to move, because there's no way to study Marsen's surface. InSight "Internal Seismic Exploration is Using Research, Geodesy and Heat Transport", which is where Mars's core analysis. It's basically a robot geologist. Using highly sensitive instruments, literally, the planet's activity and seismic temperature will be felt and "Marsquakes" will be recorded for the first time.

"Each Marsquake would be similar to a flashlight that illuminates the interior structure of the planet," explains NASA. "If we look at the seismic waves through the layers of the planet (crust, mantle, and nucleus), scientists explain how they can penetrate the depths and what they can do, so seismology is like taking X-rays within Mars."

The view will also take place at Mars temperature; Heat flow and physical properties Probe will drop the surface to 16 feet. This tool will be able to find out how Mars flows are based on the basics and scientists understand that Earth and Mars nuclei are similar.

NASA / JPL

All this is important for the scientists to better understand how Mars, Earth and Venus form a vibrant planet. Under the surface of the Earth, it is a cold mantle that floats on our tiled floors (tectonic planes). Tectonic plates are responsible for the geological activity of the Earth, creating earthquakes and volcanoes to generate energy. But Mars does not have any tectonic assets like ours.

Scientists are curious about why a rocky planet like Earth is geologically dynamic, and why rocky planet like Mars is pretty quiet. Perhaps these ideas will understand why he lives on Earth but not in Mars.