NASA blasts off Mars-bound spacecraft to detect earthquakes

An image released by NASA just before the launch. Pic/AFP

NASA's InSight mission to study the deep interior of Mars blasted off to the Red Planet on Saturday aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

"Humanity's next mission to Mars has left the pad! NASAInSight heads into space for an approximately six-month journey to Mars where it will take the planet's vital signs and help us understand how rocky planets formed," NASA tweeted. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all rocky planets formed, including earth and its moon.

The lander's instruments include a seismometer to detect marsquakes. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The findings of Mar's formation will help better understand how other planets were created.

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