The spacecraft will dig almost 16 feet into the planet to take its temperature and will try to measure marsquakes.<\/b>
\nCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 A robotic geologist armed with a hammer and quake monitor rocketed toward Mars on Saturday, aiming to land on the red planet and explore its mysterious insides.
In a twist, NASA launched the Mars InSight lander from California rather than Florida\u2019s Cape Canaveral. It was the first interplanetary mission ever to depart from the West Coast, drawing pre-dawn crowds to fog-socked Vandenberg Air Force Base and rocket watchers down the California coast into Baja.
\u201cThis is a big day. We\u2019re going back to Mars!\u201d NASA\u2019s new boss, Jim Bridenstine, said following liftoff. \u201cThis is an extraordinary mission with a whole host of firsts.\u201d
The spacecraft will take more than six months to get to Mars and start its unprecedented geologic excavations, traveling 300 million miles to get there.
InSight will dig deeper into Mars than ever before \u2013 nearly 16 feet \u2013 to take the planet\u2019s temperature. It will also attempt to make the first measurements of marsquakes, using a high-tech seismometer placed directly on the Martian surface.
\u201cThat\u2019s the real payoff of this whole mission and that\u2019s still lying ahead of us,\u201d said the mission\u2019s chief scientist, Bruce Banerdt of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Although fog prevented Banerdt from seeing the liftoff of the $1 billion U. S.-European mission, he heard the roar of the rocket and all the blaring car alarms it set off.
\u201cIt was just an incredible moment,\u201d Banerdt told The Associated Press by phone. Despite the challenges still ahead, \u201cI think I can bask in a little bit of satisfaction and just feeling like we really accomplished something today.\u201d
Besides InSight, the United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket gave a lift to a pair of mini test satellites, or CubeSats, that are trailing InSight to Mars to serve as a potential communication link. Nicknamed WALL-E and EVE from the 2008 animated movie, the twin briefcase-size spacecraft popped off the rocket\u2019s upper stage in hot pursuit of InSight, as elated launch controllers applauded and shook hands following the morning\u2019s success.
NASA hasn\u2019t put a spacecraft down on Mars since the Curiosity rover in 2012. The U. S., in fact, is the only country to successfully land and operate a spacecraft at Mars.
It\u2019s tough, complicated stuff. Only about 40 percent of all missions to Mars from all countries \u2013 orbiters and landers alike \u2013 have proven successful over the decades.
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