Martian machine InSight got the first pictures from space

26 Nov NASA — and worldwide, too — learned that the spacecraft of the mission InSight sat on the surface of Mars after a 130-kilometer landing on an elliptic curve. And now, a team of scientists have identified the precise location InSight using the images HiRISE, a powerful camera aboard another NASA spacecraft, the Mars reconnaissance Orbiter. InSight lander, its heat shield and parachute, was discovered by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) on one of the pictures taken 6 and 11 December.

The module, its heat shield and parachute are within a few hundred meters from each other in the Elysium Planitia, a flat lava plain, chosen as the landing site InSight.

InSight seemed in the pictures

This is not the first case when HiRISE takes pictures of the module on Mars. InSight is based mostly on the spacecraft Phoenix in 2008, which got the camera on MRO, as during descent and once on the surface.

Although the HiRISE team of the University of Arizona also tried to take a picture of InSight during the landing, the MRO was not able to even try to get a good picture.

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) will not search for life on Mars. But exploring the interior of the planet — what is it made of, how a layered material and how much heat passes through it — it will help scientists to understand how the raw materials of the planet allow us to sustain life.

Once Mars was a very strong magnetic field; many of the ancient parts of the crust of the planet is strongly magnetized. But billions of years ago, this field has virtually evaporated, leaving Mars without protection. To better understand why Mars ‘ magnetic field disappeared, InSight scientists want to learn more about the core of the planet. For two year science mission probe will attempt to perform at least a minimum of scientific problems including the study of mineral resources and possible tectonic activity on Mars.

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