NASA’s InSight beams back breathtakingly clear photo of Mars
NASA’s spacecraft that landed on Mars has beamed back its first clear photo of the desolate Red Planet.
NASA's Mars InSight Lander touched down on the Martian surface Monday and wasted no time in getting the first breathtakingly clear picture back to Earth.
"There’s a quiet beauty here. Looking forward to exploring my new home. #MarsLanding" NASA tweeted late Monday.
"The InSight team can rest a little easier tonight now that we know the spacecraft solar arrays are deployed and recharging the batteries," said Tom Hoffman, InSight's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in a statement. "It's been a long day for the team. But tomorrow begins an exciting new chapter for InSight: surface operations and the beginning of the instrument deployment phase."
The InSight Lander entered Mars' atmosphere just shortly after 2:40 p.m. EST and touched the surface at approximately 2:54 p.m. EST. The last part of the journey was the most harrowing, with NASA calling it "seven minutes of terror" due to the agency's inability to control the landing of the spacecraft, which cost $828 million. Scientists determined that no additional changes were needed to the algorithm that will guide the spacecraft to the Martian surface.
NASA'S INSIGHT MARS LANDER ARRIVES ON THE RED PLANET, ENDS SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY
The InSight's landing on Monday ended a journey that lasted six months and covered more than 300 million miles.
"My first picture on #Mars! My lens cover isn’t off yet, but I just had to show you a first look at my new home," NASA tweeted, showing off the first image earlier Monday afternoon.
Now that it is safely on the surface, the real excitement begins, according to Lori Glaze, acting director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. "Once InSight is settled on the Red Planet and its instruments are deployed, it will start collecting valuable information about the structure of Mars' deep interior — information that will help us understand the formation and evolution of all rocky planets, including the one we call home," she said.
The unmanned probe, which was built by Lockheed Martin, will dig deeper into the planet than anything that's come before.
Mars looms ever larger in America’s space future.
NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s. However, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin thinks that a slightly later target date of 2040 is more realistic. In an interview in 2016, the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut told Fox News that by 2040, astronauts could have visited Mars’ moon Phobos, which could serve as a sort of stepping stone to the Red Planet.
NASA IS GOING THROUGH 'SEVEN MINUTES OF TERROR' TO GET TO MARS
Last week, the space agency announced that it has selected the location where its Mars 2020 Rover will land on the Red Planet. The Rover is expected to land on Mars Feb. 18, 2021.
Fox News' James Rogers and Christopher Carbone contributed to this story. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @chris_ciaccia