CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Minutes after touching down on Mars, NASA's InSight spacecraft sent back a "nice and dirty" snapshot of its new digs. Yet the dust-speckled image looked like a work of art to scientists. The photo revealed a mostly smooth and sandy terrain around the spacecraft with only one sizable rock visible.
Another photo taken by its robotic arm-mounted camera after it landed on the planet shows a close-up of the spacecraft itself.
This photo provided by NASA shows an image on Mars that its spacecraft called InSight acquired using its robotic arm-mounted, Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) after it landed on the planet on Monday, Nov. 26, 2018.
NASA / AP
"I'm very, very happy that it looks like we have an incredibly safe and boring landing location," project manager Tom Hoffman said after Monday's touchdown. "That's exactly what we were going for."
Images which have baffled scientists came hours later and more are expected in the days ahead after the dust covers come off the lander's cameras. These photos came from a camera low on the lander. Late Monday, NASA released a clear photo taken by a higher camera that showed part of the lander and the landscape.
"In the coming months and years even, history books will be rewritten about the interior of Mars," said JPL's director, Michael Watkins.
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