Unlike Opportunity and Curiosity, the rovers that trundle across Mars in search of interesting rocks, InSight is designed to sit still and listen. Using its dome-shaped seismic sensor, scientists hope to detect tiny tremors associated with meteorite impacts, dust storms and “marsquakes” generated by the cooling of the planet’s interior. As seismic waves ripple through, they will be distorted by changes in the materials they encounter — perhaps plumes of molten rock or reservoirs of liquid water — revealing what’s under the planet’s surface.
InSight’s seismometer is so sensitive it can detect tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom. But it also must be robust enough to survive the perilous process of landing. Nothing like it has been deployed on any planet, even Earth.
TooShiftyForYou on November 27th, 2018 at 03:24 UTC »
Mars, a planet populated entirely by robots.
Angsty_Potatos on November 27th, 2018 at 03:28 UTC »
fuck, it NEVER stops being crazy that this is a picture of another PLANET.
Panicked_Turkey on November 27th, 2018 at 03:39 UTC »
Unlike Opportunity and Curiosity, the rovers that trundle across Mars in search of interesting rocks, InSight is designed to sit still and listen. Using its dome-shaped seismic sensor, scientists hope to detect tiny tremors associated with meteorite impacts, dust storms and “marsquakes” generated by the cooling of the planet’s interior. As seismic waves ripple through, they will be distorted by changes in the materials they encounter — perhaps plumes of molten rock or reservoirs of liquid water — revealing what’s under the planet’s surface.
InSight’s seismometer is so sensitive it can detect tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom. But it also must be robust enough to survive the perilous process of landing. Nothing like it has been deployed on any planet, even Earth.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/11/25/this-mars-explorer-will-probe-planets-history-if-it-can-land-one-piece/
Pretty damn amazing.