InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 |
InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 |
Nov 26 2018, 08:20 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Congratulations to the InSight team on a successful landing! We'll discuss the remainder of the mission here.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
|
|
|
Nov 27 2018, 05:12 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 559 Joined: 1-May 06 From: Scotland (Ecosse, Escocia) Member No.: 759 |
My initial (and highly speculative) impression from the first images from each camera is that Insight has luckily landed inside one of those circular sandy areas that we first saw at the Spirit rover landing site in 2004. I think they were perhaps shallow craters in-filled with wind-blown dust and sand. The flat sandy terrain visible by the landing leg seems to finish abruptly a few tens of meters off, at rougher boulder terrain, from the higher viewpoint looking out alongside the seismometer cover.
But we will find out more fully in due course ! |
|
|
Nov 27 2018, 06:12 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1374 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
... The flat sandy terrain visible by the landing leg seems to finish abruptly a few tens of meters off, at rougher boulder terrain, from the higher viewpoint looking out alongside the seismometer cover... To my eyes it looks like sandy spots interspersed with rocky spots. A billion years of wind and no rain can do strange things... And I still don't think it was the parking lot they expected. |
|
|
Nov 27 2018, 06:43 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
And I still don't think it was the parking lot they expected. In the IDC image there is exactly one rock that could have caused a landing issue. There's nothing else out there that looks like it could have been an impairment to landing, or instrument deployment. This is exactly what was expected. From https://sharad.psi.edu/~ibsmith/pubs/Golombek_SSR_2016.pdf "Rock abundance in the smooth terrain averages ∼2.5 % (well below the 10 % requirement)" Seems we got what we ordered. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 23rd September 2024 - 12:04 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |