WE HAVE A TOUCHDOWN! A new spacecraft, InSight has successfully landed on the surface of Mars to mea
WE HAVE A TOUCHDOWN! A new spacecraft, InSight has successfully landed on the surface of Mars to measure the internal heat of Mars, detect ‘marsquakes’, and the planet’s rotation! The stationary lander (not a rover like Curiosity) is equipped with a seismometer, a heat probe and a drill to study Mars’ interior (which we don’t know much about), and understand the Solar System’s rocky planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars—and Earth’s Moon better in general. To give a sense how international space missions are, I mention that the mission is managed by the @nasajpl, but there are instruments from cooperation with France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom.InSight spacecraft is tracked by European Space Agency deep space ground stations in Australia and South America, plus from stations in the US and Germany.Dusty pic: @nasajpl, art: the Oatmeal. Check his comic out for a great insight (oops) to the mission! -- source link
#landing#science#astronomy#engineering#robotics#outer space#solar system#planets