AstronomyPicture of the Day—20181129 Insight

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2018November 29

InSight'sFirst Image from Mars

ImageCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation:Welcome to Mars, NASA Insight. Yesterday NASA's robotic spacecraft InSight madea dramatic landing on Mars after a six-month trek across the inner SolarSystem. Needing to brake from 20,000 km per hour to zero in about sevenminutes, Insight decelerated by as much as 8 g's and heated up to 1500 degreesCelsius as it deployed a heat shield, a parachute, and at the end, rockets. Thefeatured image was the first taken by InSight on Mars, and welcome proof thatthe spacecraft had shed enough speed to land softly and function on the redplanet. During its final descent, InSight's rockets kicked up dust which can beseen stuck to the lens cap of the Instrument Context Camera. Past the spottydirt, parts of the lander that are visible include cover bolts at the bottomand a lander footpad on the lower right. Small rocks are visible across therusty red soil, while the arc across the top of the image is the Martianhorizon dividing land and sky. Over the next few weeks InSight will deployseveral scientific instruments, including a rumble-detecting seismometer. Theseinstruments are expected to give humanity unprecedented data involving theinterior of Mars, a region thought to harbor formation clues not only aboutMars, but Earth.