NASA prepares for its most important mission: to explore the interior of Mars
The launch of the InSight robotic vehicle is scheduled from May 5. The objective is to know more about the origin of the red planet and its incidence on Earth.
NASA finishes details for the launch of InSight, the mission destined to explore the interior of Mars in order to know more about the origin of the Earth.
From next May 5, the space agency will send a robotic vehicle that will allow to know the interior of the red planet, as well as other conditions of the same, in order to discover more about how it was formed.
"The objective is none other than to know more about the birth of the Earth, and we do it from Mars, although it may sound weird," explained Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator of the mission, who said that it supposes the fulfillment of the dreams accumulated during the last forty years.
The expert indicated that by knowing the core of Mars they will be able to know more about how the planet has evolved, its layers and its own heart, which will allow them to extrapolate to understand the formation of the Earth.
According to the specialist, all this will try to achieve this through a robot that includes a small "torpedo" that will penetrate the surface to reach five meters deep, which would allow to measure the Martian internal temperature for the first time in the history.
In this way, the InSight mission will combine the information on heat fluxes with other data obtained at the site to reveal how energy involves certain changes in the surface.
On the necessary protection for the device before the sudden changes of temperature, Banerdt stressed that "not only do you have to have the device, but you have to protect it", which has led them to generate a system with multiple layers: "It's like a Russian doll, "he joked.
Mars is not an easy destination for space missions, since only 40% of those programmed are successful.
The setbacks also affected InSight, whose initial launch was expected in 2016, but had to be delayed for next May.
The explanation is that it is the moment when both bodies will line up again, since Mars is farther from the Sun than the Earth and its orbital movement is longer, so the blue and red planets take 26 months to re-align
The launching can be made from May 5, but will have until June 8 to take place in case the conditions are not optimal, and will not reach the red planet until November 26.
The mission, which will last almost two years and will travel 485 million kilometers to Mars, is funded and coordinated for the most part by the United States itself, but also involved different European countries, such as Germany, France and Spain.
In total, the United States will invest 813 million dollars, while between Germany and France they will add around 180 million in the project's research.
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