Sunrise and sunset on MARS caught on camera by Nasa’s InSight lander
Take in glorious views from the red planet
NASA has captured a series of sunrise and sunset images from the surface of Mars.
The spectacular shots were taken by Nasa’s InSight lander, which touched down on the red planet in November last year.
A camera on InSight’s robotic arm took the photos on April 24/25 – the 145th Martian “sol” (or day)” of the mission.
In Mars time, the images were taken at 5.30am and 6.30pm.
“It’s been a tradition for Mars missions to capture sunrises and sunsets,” said Justin Maki, InSight imaging chief at Nasa.
“With many of our primary imaging tasks complete, we decided to capture the sunrise and sunset as seen from another world.”
Insight landed on Mars on November 26, 2018, and will study the deep interior of the red planet.
It cost £600million to build and will spend two years surveying a small spot on Mars no larger than a pair of ping pong tables.
Unlike Curiosity, which landed in 2012 and is still on the move on Mars, Insight is immobile.
The probe is mapping Mars’ core, crust and mantle by measuring small earthquakes and heat flow below the Martian surface.
Mars facts
Here's what you need to know about the red planet...
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful
Three UK-made seismometer instruments are on board the spacecraft, part of a £4million UK Space Agency effort to track “marsquakes” on the planet.
Nasa hopes to learn why the rocky planets in our solar system turned out so different compared to Earth, which evolved into a haven for life.
Insight is Nasa’s – indeed, humanity’s – eighth successful landing at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes, and the first in six years.
Nasa’s Curiosity rover, which arrived in 2012, is still studying the red planet.
InSight weathered a white-knuckle “seven minutes of terror” landing on Mars, during which communications with mission control went dark as it whipped through the planet’s harsh atmosphere at speeds above 12,000 miles per hour.
Following its landing, the probe sent back an image of its own robotic arm – technically its first selfie – although the snap cut out most of the robot’s body and other instruments.
Rob Manning, Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s chief engineer, hailed the successful landing as “flawless”.
“This is what we really hoped and imagined in our mind’s eye. Sometimes things work out in your favour.”
Administrator Jim Bridenstine, presiding over his first landing of the Red Planet as the space agency’s boss, said: “What an amazing day for our country.”
Nasa’s InSight lander recently recorded sounds of a “Marsquake” for the first time.
The lander is also digging on the red planet – here’s why.
And find out why an alien discovery may be “inevitable and possibly imminent”.
What do you think of these space snaps? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.