On Monday November 26th, NASA announced that it had successfully landed its InSight robot lander on the surface of Mars. InSight which stands for, Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, reached the Martian surface at 11:52:29 Pacific Time after plunging through a thin Martian atmosphere. From its Elysium Planitia landing site, InSight will carry out its two year mission to probe beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
InSight is a three legged, stationary lander instead of a rover. Its stationary position will allow InSight to study the planet for the existence of seismic anomalies called, Mars quakes. To do this, InSight will deploy a seismometer from its robotic arm. The arm will also be used to deploy a self hammering nail that will drill down into Martian surface to a depth of 16 feet in order to determine the planet's temperature.
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