Perfect landing. First pic through dust cover. X-band signal. On board self-checks all nominal.
Is there video of the landing or just the reaction?
Just the reaction, there's a slight possibility that Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught a picture of it entering the atmosphere but we won't know that until later since MRO is on the far side of Mars at the moment.
Fun math problem I just thought of: I wonder how high the satellite's orbit would have to be in order to maximize the amount of time during which it would be obscured by Mars when looking from Earth.
Thought stream: Minimum arc length of hidden (eclipsed) section of orbit; the higher the orbit, the slower the satellite needs to travel to maintain; I don't have experience with exactly the right math, but intuition tells me that regardless of distance from Mars, the related speed means that the time to traverse that arc will be the same ... maybe we could use an atypical orbit (passing closer to the planet while hidden?) to reduce eclipsed traversal time?
InSight lacks a descent imager. However, the Mars 2020 rover will have a descent imager and record full color video along with sound during the descent.
Thanks for the link.
Touchdown confirmed ...
Touchdown confirmed!
Hooray! Great job NASA! Amid politics and war, it's refreshing to see news that can unite us all.
I just tuned in. It sounds like EDL is about 15 minutes away from now?
Touchdown is scheduled for 20:00 UTC (3:00 PM Eastern)