On Monday, people all over the world watched the live broadcast of the InSight Mars landing.

The lander survived what scientists referred to as “seven minutes of terror” as it touched down on the red planet.

The same scientists then celebrated with some of the most awkward social interactions ever recorded on live TV.

I’ll give it to them, though – they did just land something on Mars.

Now that the lander is safely on the ground, here’s CNN with what’s next:

Unlike the rovers already on the Martian surface, InSight will stay put during its planned two-year mission.

InSight has already been busy. Since landing, it has taken two photos and sent them back as postcards to Earth, showing off its new home. These initial images are grainy because the dust shields haven’t been removed from the camera lenses yet.

InSights solar arrays have unfurled, which will provide the craft – roughly the size of a 1960s convertible – with power during its residency.

“We are solar-powered, so getting the arrays out and operating is a big deal,” said InSight project manager Tom Hoffman at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“With the arrays providing the energy, we need to start the cool science operations. We are well on our way to thoroughly investigate what’s inside of Mars for the very first time.”

On clear days, the panels will provide InSight with between 600 and 700 watts, which is roughly enough to power a standard kitchen blender. In more dusty conditions, the panels will still be able to generate between 200 and 300 watts.

The suite of geophysical instruments will take measurements of Mars’ internal activity like seismology and the wobble as the sun and its moons tug on the planet.

These instruments include the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structures to investigate what causes the seismic waves on Mars, the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package to burrow beneath the surface and determine heat flowing out of the planet and the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment to use radios to study the planet’s core.

InSight will be able to measure quakes that happen anywhere on the planet. And it’s capable of hammering a probe into the surface.

The data that InSight sends back will help to determine the temperature of Mars and the geological activity beneath its crust, whether it still has a hot molten core, and what makes Earth so special by comparison.

The first data isn’t expected until March.

We’ll keep you posted.

[source:cnn]