Spacecraft to study ‘Marsquakes’ after successful landing on Red Planet
A Nasa spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet last night after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.
Flight controllers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause and laughter as the news came in. A pair of mini satellites trailing Insight since their May lift-off provided real-time updates of the spacecraft’s supersonic descent through the reddish skies. The satellite also shot back a quick photo from Mars’ surface.
The image was marred by specks of debris. But the quick look at the surroundings showed a flat surface with few, if any, rocks – just what scientists were hoping for. “What a relief,” JPL’S chief engineer Rob Manning said.
Mr Manning said the landing appeared to be flawless. “This is what we really hoped and imagined in our mind’s eye,” he said. “Sometimes things work out in your favour.”
The three-legged Insight spacecraft reached the surface after going from 12,300 mph to zero in six minutes flat as it pierced the Martian atmosphere, using a parachute and braking engines to slow down. Radio signals confirming the landing took more than eight minutes to cross the nearly 100 million miles between Mars and Earth.
It was Nasa’s ninth attempt to land on Mars since the 1976 Viking probes. All, but one of the previous US touchdowns were successful.
Nasa last landed on Mars in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.
The spacecraft will now deploy instruments designed to probe beneath the Martian surface. Three instruments designed and built in the UK are included in the spacecraft’s seismic package, which will listen out for “Marsquakes”.
Over the course of two years, scientists expect to detect between a dozen and 100 of the tremors.
The three-legged probe will help scientists learn about how rocky worlds like the Earth and Moon formed more than 4.5 billion years ago.