NASA’s InSight Mars lander recently shared an incredible sight. On April 10, it captured a beautiful sunrise over the Red Planet. InSight is NASA’s first mission to study the depths of Mars – its crust, mantle and core -. It has been present on the Red Planet since late 2018.
InSight, which stands for “Interior Exploration Using Seismic, Geodetic and Heat Transport Investigations”, is a stationary instrument Mars The lander studies earthquakes on the planet and its interior. The lander touched down on the Elysium Planitia region of Mars in November 2018. The probe completed the main mission of a full Martian year, equivalent to about 687 Earth days. It’s currently in an expansion phase with time to get ready to try out its photography skills.
NASA said InSight has managed to measure hundreds of “pastries” through its mission. It has also studied mysterious pulsations of magnetic fields on the Red Planet and captured incredible views like the sunrise on Mars.
The agency added: “What we learn from InSight will not only reveal how planets like Mars first formed, but also help us understand patterns of the Red Planet as we prepares humans to explore Mars on future NASA missions.
NASA also discovered Mars with the help of its other probes – such as Persist rover and its partners, Skillful helicopter. The explorer collected rock samples for future human missions to collect and return them to Earth. All of these efforts are aimed at finding signs of ancient or microbial life on Mars and seeing if it could support human habitation, similar to Earth’s.
Perseverance and ingenuity are discover Jezero Crater on Mars, a dry lake that scientists believe may contain information about possible ancient life.
