NASA’s Blast To The Past

With space exploration continuing to grow, NASA has been pushing more space crafts and research. In fact, just recently, NASA has launched its InSight robotic lander, which will study the physical interior structure of Mars. This lander launched on May 5th and will land at Mars on November 26th, 2018. It will examine the creation of Mars from 4.5 billion years ago and study the inner space of Mars. By studying this, scientists will able to learn more about the formation of other planets as well. The InSight will also be able to detect any past meteoric or tectonic activity on Mars. As NASA’s website states, their goals are to “understand the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets through investigation of the interior structure and processes of Mars” and “determine the present level of tectonic activity and meteorite impact rate on Mars”.

Source: NASA

The same rocket that launched the InSight is also launched the Mars Cube One, which is a mini piece of equipment for communication in space. NASA hopes that the Cube One may also be able to relay information from the InSight to Earth. The InSight will take a sonogram of Mars to learn about how the planets in our solar system can form. The InSight and the Cube One were both launched on the Atlas V rocket, and the mission in total costs over 813 million dollars. Overall, this mission may not be the most beneficial towards putting people on Mars, but it is essential to learn about the formation of our planets. This mission will add to our extensive knowledge of the solar system, and we may even get some cool new information from it!

Source: NASA

Author:

Ritik Sinha