Mars lander Insight

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

Hope they can find that Illudium Q36 space modulator!

even if they do it's made of Unobtainium!

[kach22i]

November 26, 2018
NASA’s InSight Mission Triumphantly Touches Down on Mars
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-insight-mission-triumphantly-touches-down-on-mars/

After enduring a high-tension descent from orbit, the spacecraft will now begin its quest to peel back the profound mysteries of the Red Planet’s interior

Beyond developing planetary evolution models, the heat flow measurements will also have implications for understanding if Mars has ever been habitable enough to support life. Some hypotheses suggest that there may be reservoirs of water just below the Martian surface, and the value of the heat flow number could help us understand whether these reservoirs are in a life-giving liquid state or are a not-so-life-giving solid ice.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Rickysa

Video

Cool.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

Hope they can find that Illudium Q36 space modulator!

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

The math to figure that out was not even invented until the late 1960s.

LOL. I know what you meant but the math was invented before man was created. We didn't understand it and develop the formulas to do the calculations until modern times.

[Por_sha911]

In the meantime,

[astrochex]

That was fun to watch. I loved the frequent status updates and the associated reactions.

I hope they can clean that lens.

Well done to all.

[MBAtarga]

For those interested on this topic, I found that NASA JPL has a podcast series on this mission, appropriately titled "On a Mission." While working out at the gym tonight I listened to the first 3 or 4 episodes - each is about 25 minutes in length.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by astrochex

I hope they can clean that lens.

It's a dust cover that the robot will take off after the dust from the landing settles! Pretty awesome.

[Crowbob]

Did I read it right that this thing cost $898,000,000.00?

I’m having trouble reconciling a cost/benefit calculation here.

Do we really need to know about marsquakes? That’s allota moolah.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Did I read it right that this thing cost $898,000,000.00?

I’m having trouble reconciling a cost/benefit calculation here.

Do we really need to know about marsquakes? That’s allota moolah.

That's almost exactly the same amount as the interest payment on our government's credit card debt, Every single day.

If we didn't give any money to Afghanistan in 2017, we could have built 7 kickass Mars robots, instead of only 1.

It's all a matter of scale.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Did I read it right that this thing cost $898,000,000.00?

I’m having trouble reconciling a cost/benefit calculation here.

Do we really need to know about marsquakes? That’s allota moolah.

Go look at the federal budget and report back. You can find exponentially more wasteful examples of government spending. As for value, is there not value in understanding the world around us, and what is thought to be the most imhabitable planet in our solar system? Or should we carry on thinking the Earth is flat? There is inherent value in knowledge, sadly it often can’t be quantified, or the value is only fully understood years later.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Loved watching the landing yesterday. What a blessing it is to live in the greatest country in the world.

[astrochex]

^What an amazing image!

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

Loved watching the landing yesterday. What a blessing it is to live in the greatest country in the world.

Fake news. That is just a picture of western Oklahoma. ..

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Fake news. That is just a picture of western Oklahoma. ..

HA! Thanks for my morning laugh!

[kach22i]

Made me laugh too.

EDIT:

Raw Images (only 3 so far, expect many more get posted soon).
https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/multimedia/raw-images/?order=sol+desc%2Cdate_taken+desc&per_page=50&page=0&mission=insight

November 27, 2018
InSight Is Catching Rays on Mars
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8393/insight-is-catching-rays-on-mars/?site=insight

NASA's InSight has sent signals to Earth indicating that its solar panels are open and collecting sunlight on the Martian surface. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter relayed the signals, which were received on Earth at about 5:30 p.m. PST (8:30 p.m. EST). Solar array deployment ensures the spacecraft can recharge its batteries each day. Odyssey also relayed a pair of images showing InSight's landing site.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

LOL. I know what you meant but the math was invented before man was created. We didn't understand it and develop the formulas to do the calculations until modern times.

Uh, what? That is like saying language was around before humans, but we had to develop it. Yea, even in the days of dinosaurs if a group of them stood together a predator looked at the group he understood he can't attack all of them at once, and had to get it down to one. But that is just basic logic.

Penicillin mold was around long before humans but until Salk "invented" it, or found it, it was just mold.

In the 1950's even a team of Eisensteins could not have calculated the trajectory until the formulas were invented. Like Calculus, it was "invented" by a rather famous scientists, Newton.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Fake news. That is just a picture of western Oklahoma. ..

Na, more like parts of Utah. There is a long stretch of road, where there is no sign of live at all. Nothing green, no bushes, grass or trees. Nothing but rocks and sand. It is has a eerie beauty when sitting in an air conditioned car going 70 MPH. It would be pure hell on foot.

Even the Gloss Mountains area in Oklahoma have some signs of life.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Did I read it right that this thing cost $898,000,000.00?

I’m having trouble reconciling a cost/benefit calculation here.

Do we really need to know about marsquakes? That’s allota moolah.

That's not very much money, as long as it came out of other people's pockets.