InSight project has made science exciting at NASA

Behind the scenes view lets people see thrill of Mars landing

NASA, thanks for making science fun. Last week, the agency publicly celebrated as the InSight spacecraft landed on Mars and sent back a photo of the Red Planet.

InSight is a $1 billion international project, and its journey to Mars was not easy. It took six months to make the 300-million-mile journey, during which time just about anything could have happened to it.

Then, once it got to Mars, it had to stick a crazy landing.

InSight’s speed had to drop from 12,300 mph when it hit the Martian atmosphere down to 5 mph by the time it landed, using just a parachute and braking engines, the Associated Press reports.

NASA engineers called that entry to landing period of time “seven minutes of terror,” because after that sixmonth journey, InSight had just seven minutes to stick that landing, which would make or break the mission.

However, the landing was a terrific success. NASA said the landing took just 6.5 minutes, and just moments later, InSight sent its first photo of Mars back to the team at NASA.

As amazing as the achievement is, what was just as fun to watch was the reaction at NASA. The team waiting and monitoring InSight erupted in cheers and jubilation when it was clear that the spacecraft had successfully landed.

For InSight and NASA, the fun is only just beginning. InSight will dig 16 feet into the surface of Mars, giving scientists the first look at the interior of the planet, studying its core and internal temperatures.

InSight will also “determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts,” NASA reports, while also studying the formation of the planet and its processes. Scientific data is expected in March, so there’s a little time before scientists can really dig in.

For now, though, it appears to be all systems go. And that is thanks to the hard work of the team at NASA, which gave people an intimate look at InSight and the process thus far. That behind-the-scenes view has gotten people’s attention, and made science fun. We can’t wait to see what InSight uncovers!