Triumph as Mars craft lands safely
NASA scientists jumped for joy last night as their science probe landed successfully on Mars.
The experts, some with tears in their eyes, leapt in the air and cheered amid the jubilation in the space agency’s control room in Washington DC.
Chief engineer Rob Manning said: “The vehicle is reported nominal, this means it’s happy – the lander is not complaining.
“It’s going to chug along for the rest of the afternoon on Mars and continue its activities.”
The Mission Control Team said the InSight probe landed safely on the Red Planet, surviving “seven minutes of terror” as it hurtled at 13,200mph through its thin atmosphere.
Atmosphere
It entered the atmosphere at 8pm UK time, sparking a wave of excitement after spending nearly seven months travelling through space.
The probe, part of Nasa’s £633million two-year mission, will yield key information about Mars’s crust.
It will create a 16ft bore hole, designed to give information about Mars and will also teach us more about the solar system’s formation.
The lander is so sophisticated, it can also detect any seismic activity on the planet and record temperature.
Solar panels will help power the probe, although there is a risk a severe storm could affect its progress. And on-board cameras will help engineers see that everything is working.
InSight arrived on Mars’s Elysium Planitia area, north of its equator, which was described as an ideal spot because of its flat, rockless surface. It is the first attempt to reach Mars in six years as only 40 per cent of missions, all headed by the US, have been successful.
Three British-made seismometer instruments are on board InSight – part of a £4million UK Space Agency effort to measure seismic waves.
Scientists from Imperial College London and Oxford University, who created the instruments, will be helping the study at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Sue Horne, head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency, hailed the landing as “wonderful news”.
She said: “The UK scientists and engineers involved in this mission have committed several years of their lives to building the seismometer on board, and the descent is always a worrying time.
“We can now look forward to the deployment of the instrument and the data that will start to arrive in the new year.”