CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Mars has its first U.S. visitor in years. The three-legged, one-armed spacecraft will dig deep and listen for quakes.
NASA’s InSight made its grand entrance through the rose-tinted skies around Mars on Monday, November 26. The visit came after a six-month journey of 300 million miles. It’s the first American spacecraft to land since the Curiosity rover in 2012 and the first dedicated to exploring underground.
NASA copied the landings of past successful missions to get InSight to the red planet’s surface. Engine blasts slowed its final descent and the spacecraft plopped down on its rigid legs.
That’s where old school ends on this $1 billion joint effort between the United States and Europe.
Flight controllers in California first determined the landing site was clear. The area had to be fairly flat and rock free.
Six-Foot Arm
Then InSight’s 6-foot arm safely removed the two main science experiments from the lander’s deck. It then placed them directly on Mars’ surface. No spacecraft has attempted anything like that before. There will be other firsts to come.
One experiment will attempt to dig 16 feet into Mars, using a self-hammering nail with heat sensors to check the planet’s internal temperature. That would shatter the record of 8 feet drilled by the Apollo moonwalkers nearly a half-century ago for heat measurements of the moon. Those astronauts also left instruments to measure moonquakes.
Monitoring For Marsquakes
InSight carries the first seismometers to monitor for marsquakes — if they exist.
The spacecraft is like a self-sufficient robot, said lead scientist Bruce Banerdt of NASA.
“Its got its own brain. Its got an arm that can manipulate things around. It can listen with its seismometer. It can feel things with the pressure sensors and the temperature sensors. It pulls its own power out of the sun,” he said.
By scoping inside Mars, scientists could learn how Mars has formed over billions of years. The findings could help scientists learn about the formations of the Earth and the moon, too.
800-Pound Vehicle
First, the 800-pound vehicle needed to land safely on Mars. This time, there wasn’t a ball bouncing down with the spacecraft tucked inside, like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004. They were also sent to Mars. There wasn’t a sky crane to lower the lander like the six-wheeled Curiosity during its “seven minutes of terror.” This refers to the suspenseful seven minutes it took Curiosity to get from the top of Mars’ atmosphere to its surface in 2012.
“That was crazy,” said InSight’s project manager, Tom Hoffman. “Any time you’re trying to land on Mars, it’s crazy.”
No matter what, getting to Mars and landing is hard — and unforgiving.
Earth’s success rate for Mars trips is only 40 percent. That dates back to the 1960s. While the United States has failed before, it’s still the only country to land and operate a spacecraft on Mars.
This time, NASA copied the 1976 twin Vikings and the 2008 Phoenix, which also were stationary and three-legged.
“But you never know what Mars is going to do,” Hoffman said before the landing. “Just because we’ve done it before doesn’t mean we’re not nervous and excited about doing it again.”
Wind gusts could have sent the spacecraft into a dangerous tumble, or the parachute could have gotten tangled. A dust storm could limit InSight’s ability to generate solar power. A leg could buckle. The arm could jam.
The tensest time for flight controllers in Pasadena, California, is the six minutes between the spacecraft hitting Mars’ atmosphere and touchdown. They ate from jars of peanuts — a good-luck tradition started with 1964’s successful moon mission.
12,300 Miles Per Hour
InSight entered Mars’ atmosphere at a supersonic 12,300 miles per hour. Its white nylon parachute and a series of engine blasts helped it slow down for a soft upright landing on a flat part of Mars. Hoffman compared the landing spot to “a Walmart parking lot in Kansas.”
The flat surface helped keep the lander from tipping over and it allowed the robotic arm to set the science instruments down.
InSight will rest near the ground, its top deck barely a yard above the surface. Once its twin circular solar panels open, the lander will occupy the space of a large car.
The first pictures of the landing site came shortly after touchdown. However, it will be at least 10 weeks before the science instruments are set up. Add another several weeks for the heat sensor to bury into Mars.
The mission is designed to last a full Mars year, which equals two Earth years.
With landing day so close to Thanksgiving, many flight controllers ate turkey at their desks on the holiday.
Hoffman’s team waited until the landing to give full and proper thanks.
Saldino Science 
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