About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2018)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, November 27, 2018 3A NASA craft lands on Mars after perilous journey NASA I Associated Press This illustration made available by NASA in October 2016 shows NASA’s InSight lander about to land on the surface of Mars. BY MARCIA DUNN Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft designed to drill down into Mars’ interior landed on the planet Monday after a perilous, supersonic plunge through its red skies, set ting off jubilation among scientists who had waited in white-knuckle suspense for confirmation to arrive across 100 million miles of space. Flight controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped out of their chairs, screaming, dancing and hugging, upon learning that InSight had arrived on Mars, the grave yard for a multitude of pre vious missions. “Touchdown con firmed!” a flight control ler called out just before 3 p.m., instantly dispel ling the anxiety that had gripped the control room as the spacecraft made its six-minute descent. Because of the distance between Earth and Mars, it took eight minutes for confirmation to arrive, relayed by a pair of tiny satellites that had been trailing InSight throughout the six-month, 300-million- mile journey. The two satellites not only transmitted the good news in almost real time, they also sent back InSight’s first snapshot of Mars just 41/2 minutes after landing. The picture was speck led with dirt because the dust cover was still on the lander’s camera, but the terrain around the space craft looked smooth and sandy with just one siz able rock visible — pretty much what scientists had hoped for. Better photos are expected in the days ahead, after the dust cov ers come off. It was NASA’s — indeed, humanity’s — eighth suc cessful landing at Mars since the 1976 Viking probes, and the first in six years. NASA’s Curiosity rover, which arrived in 2012, is still on the move on Mars. “Flawless,” declared JPL’s chief engineer, Rob Manning. “This is what we really hoped and imag ined in our mind’s eye,” he added. “Sometimes things work out in your favor.” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, presiding over his first Mars landing as the space agency’s boss, said: “What an amazing day for our country.” InSight, a $1 billion inter national project, includes a German mechanical mole that will burrow down 16 feet to measure Mars’ internal heat. The lander also has a French seismometer for measur ing quakes, if they exist on our smaller, geologically calmer neighbor. Another experiment will calculate Mars’ wobble to reveal the makeup of the planet’s core. “In the coming months and years even, history books will be rewrit ten about the interior of Mars,” said JPL’s director, Michael Watkins. InSight wasn’t out of the woods yet: NASA awaited word Monday night on whether the spacecraft’s vital solar panels success fully unfolded. The pan els must open to generate power; otherwise, the mis sion is a bust. Over the next few “sols” — or Martian days of 24 hours, 39 1 /2 minutes — flight controllers will also assess the health of InSight’s all-important robot arm and its science instruments. Many Mars-bound space craft launched by the U.S., Russia and other countries have been lost or destroyed over the years, with a suc cess rate of just 40 percent, not counting InSight. NASA went with its old, straightforward approach this time, using a para chute and braking engines to get InSight’s speed from 12,300 mph when it pierced the Martian atmosphere, about 77 miles up, to 5 mph at touchdown. The danger was that the space craft could burn up in the atmosphere or bounce off it. The three-legged InSight settled on the western side of Elysium Planitia, the plain that NASA was aim ing for. Project manager Tom Hoffman said the spacecraft landed close to the bull’s-eye, but NASA did not have yet have the final calculations. He said that it was hard to tell from the first photo whether there were any slopes nearby, but that it appeared he got the flat, smooth “parking lot” he was hoping for. Museums, planetariums and libraries across the U.S. held viewing parties to watch the events unfold at JPL. NASA TV cover age was also shown on the giant screen in New York’s Times Square, where crowds huddled under umbrellas in the rain. The 800-pound InSight is stationary and will operate from the same spot for the next two years, the dura tion of a Martian year. It will take months to set up and fine-tune the instru ments, and lead scientist Bruce Banerdt said he doesn’t expect to start get ting a stream of solid data until late next spring. “It’s going to be awe some. I can’t wait to start seeing marsquakes,” Hoff man said. Auto Insurance Specialist • Easy Payments • Any Driver • Any Age NEW LOCATION! 2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE Next to Rabbittown Cafe 770-450-4500 Ukraine to impose martial law after Russian aggression BY NATALIYA VASILYEVA AND EFREM LUKATSKY Associated Press KIEV — Ukraine’s par liament voted Monday to impose martial law in parts of the country to fight what its president called “grow ing aggression” from Mos cow after a weekend naval confrontation off the dis puted Crimean Peninsula in which Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian ves sels amid renewed tensions between the neighbors. Western leaders and dip lomats urged both sides to de-escalate the conflict, and the U.S. blamed Russia for what it called “unlaw ful conduct” over Sunday’s incident in the Black Sea. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other in the dispute that further ratch eted up tensions ever since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and threw its weight behind separatists in east ern Ukraine with clan destine support, including troops and weapons. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked lawmakers in Kiev to insti tute martial law, something the country did not do even during the worst of the fight ing in the east that killed about 10,000 people. After a five-hour debate, parliament overwhelm ingly approved his proposal, voting to impose martial law for 30 days starting Wednesday morning in 10 of Ukraine’s 27 regions — those bordering Russia, Belarus and Moldova’s pro- Moscow breakaway repub lic of Trans-Dniester. The locations chosen were ones that Poroshenko identified as potentially in the front line of any Russian attack. The capital of Kiev is not under martial law. Poroshenko said it was necessary because of intel ligence about “a highly serious threat of a ground operation against Ukraine.” He did not elaborate. “Martial law doesn’t mean declaring a war,” he said. “It is introduced with the sole purpose of boosting Ukraine’s defense in the light of a growing aggres sion from Russia.” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry already announced earlier in the day that its troops were on full combat alert in the country. The approved measures included a partial mobiliza tion and strengthening of air defenses. It also contained vaguely worded steps such as “strengthening” anti terrorism measures and “information security” that could curtail certain rights and freedoms. But Poroshenko also pledged to respect the rights of Ukrainian citizens. His critics reacted to his call for martial law with suspicion, wondering why Sunday’s incident merited such a response. Porosh- enko’s approval ratings have been plunging, and there were concerns that he would postpone a presiden tial election scheduled for March. Just before the parliament met to vote, Poroshenko sought to allay those fears by releasing a statement revising his original mar tial law proposal from 60 days to just 30 days, in order to “do away with the pretexts for political speculation.” Oksana Syroid, a deputy speaker of parliament, noted that martial law was not introduced in 2014 or 2015 despite large-scale fighting in the east. A state of emergency “would pres ent a wonderful chance to manipulate the presidential elections,” she said. Despite Poroshenko’s vow to respect individual rights, opposition lawmaker and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko warned before the vote that his proposal would lead to the possible illegal searches, invasion of privacy and cur tailing of free speech. •Gift baskets •Embroidery •Unique gifts •Screen printing •Balloons for all occasions •Full Service Pharmacy •Free Local Delivery Compounding Unit Dose Packaging ffiveriide Pharmacy 935 Green St., Gainesville, GA 770.532.6253 • callriversidepharmacy.com Poroshenko Call Wolfman Charlie to keep you warm this winter! o LRNIER HVOC SERVICES WE STRIVE TO SERVE YOU 835 Oak Street, Gainesville, Georgia http://lanier-hvac.net/ 678-943-1351 Join us for fun holiday festivities! December 2, 2018 345 (jreen Street 4:i5-7:i5J>m
