Machine versus human

The Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), located on the robotic arm of NASA's InSight lander, took this picture of the Martian surface on Nov. 26, 2018, the same day the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet. The camera's transparent dust cover is still on in this image, to prevent particulates kicked up during landing from settling on the camera's lens. This image was relayed from InSight to Earth via NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

I do not want anthromorphise machine but looking at the photograph above beamed by NASA's latest Mars lander InSight I couldn't help it. It traveled nearly seven months and 300 million miles (458 million kilometers), went through quite an ordeal slowing down from 12,300 miles per hour (19,800 kms per hour) to just five mph (nine kmph) and yet managed to send the photograph soon after landing. It needed no time to unwind or whine about a jet lag version of space travel. That's machine as opposed to human.

The area of Elysium Planitia on Mars where InSight is now firmly planted is not a particularly pretty place. From the picture it looks like dusty desolation and that is precisely what it needs to carry out its science for the next one Martian year or nearly two Earth years. Having deployed its own solar panels, it will now harness its own solar energy. Imagine a human doing that without any fuss.

As NASA explains, "InSight's twin solar arrays are each 7 feet (2.2 meters) wide; when they're open, the entire lander is about the size of a big 1960s convertible. Mars has weaker sunlight than Earth because it's much farther away from the Sun. But the lander doesn't need much to operate: The panels provide 600 to 700 watts on a clear day, enough to power a household blender and plenty to keep its instruments conducting science on the Red Planet. Even when dust covers the panels — what is likely to be a common occurrence on Mars — they should be able to provide at least 200 to 300 watts."

Humans and machines may differ in most significant ways but they both have their lifespans. For instance, just as InSight begins its life, NASA's Opportunity rover that landed in 2004 could be near its end after going into hibernation in June this year following a major dust storm. It was supposed to last 90 days along with its companion Spirit. It outlasted that by nearly 14 years. 

It is a tribute to NASA and its brilliant staff that I, a general ignoramus, can write about something so complex as a Mars mission in such a matter-of-fact tone. Of course, I never forget how inordinately hard these missions are.