A SELFIE ON MARS: NASA’S INSIGHT SPACECRAFT SENDS STUNNING IMAGE BACK TO EARTH
By Harry Pettit For Mailonline
Published: 02:42 EST, 27 November 2018 | Updated: 17:50 EST, 27 November 2018
NASA’s latest interplanetary probe has sent its first selfie from the barren surface of Mars, after it successfully reached the planet following a seven month trip through space.
The US space agency released a photograph taken by its InSight spacecraft shortly after it landed, showing part of the probe and the Martian surface in the distance.
A Nasa satellite orbiting the red planet relayed images of the $1 billion (£0.78 billion) spacecraft from its landing site, known as Elysium Planitia, back to Earth at 8:30pm EST (1:30am GMT) on Monday.
The successful transfer confirmed that InSight’s solar panels, known as solar arrays, have now successfully opened, meaning it is able to collect sunlight and recharge its batteries each day.
