The US space agency NASA has launched a new Mars mission. The landing module Insight broke up on Saturday morning (local time) aboard an Atlas V rocket from California Air Force Base Vandenberg. The flight to red planet should last more than six months. Scientists from Germany, France and or European countries are also involved in mission, which is associated with a cost of one billion dollars (835 million euros).
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After arriving on Mars at a distance of 485 million kilometers, landing module is to carry out geological explorations, among or things. It is particularly important to measure temperature, i.e. heat flux. For this purpose, German aerospace Company (DLR) has developed a device that can penetrate up to five metres below surface of planet. In addition, Marsbeben are to be measured.
When everything goes as planned, three-legged insight lands on November 26th by means of a parachute and firing of engines in a shallow region near equator. There should be no large, potentially dangerous stones.
The scientific instruments should n be placed with a mechanical lift arm on surface of Mars. NASA chief scientist Jim Green said researchers could make such an idea of size of nucleus, shell and crust, and compare this data with those of Earth. “This is of fundamental importance to understand origin of our solar system and how it became as it is today,” said Green. NASA researchers are not only promising new insights into Mars, but also about origin of Earth.
Unlike Rover Curiosity, Insight cannot roll, but remains stationary in one place and is intended to measure vital functions of planet using scientific instruments. The DLR’s small Rammsonde should automatically hammer five meters deep in Martian soil and measure temperature and rmal conductivity at different depths. “The Insight mission fulfills a long-cherished desire of planetary researchers: a geophysical observatory on an Earth-like planet,” said Tilman Spohn of DLR. “Mars is an ideal destination: It is easy to reach and an ideal object of comparison to Earth.”
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It was first time that an interplanetary mission started from US west coast. Many spectators watched launch north of Los Angeles. Originally, Insight was supposed to stand out two years ago; Problems with Seismometer delivered by France delayed project. NASA last 2012 a spacecraft to Mars, Rover Curiosity.
