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. 2020 Feb 24;11:1014. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14679-1

Fig. 2. InSight landing ellipses and spacecraft locations.

Fig. 2

Image shows the landing ellipse (E9, dark blue, 130 km × 27 km), with trajectory correction maneuver 5 (TCM5) course adjusted target (green dot), the last orbit determination solution and ellipse (LaRC green, 77.4 km × 23.2 km), the extrapolated inertial measurement unit (IMU) surface location, the RISE estimate from Sol 1 (4.49751° ± 0.00471°N, 135.6178693° ± 0.000337°E, hidden behind the lander dot, red), and HiRISE-based location from December 6th, 2018. Background image mosaic is from the daytime Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) infrared global mosaic at 100 m/pixel. The dominant surface is smooth Early Amazonian-Hesperian plains deformed by north-trending wrinkle ridges (suggesting subsurface basalt flows) with large impact craters2,3. Craters larger than around 40 m but smaller than around 2 km are dark (indicating colder daytime temperatures with higher thermal inertia), rocky ejecta craters18. These craters excavate strong coherent rock (basalt) from depths of 4–200 m depth, with a fractured regolith on top and weaker sediments beneath2,3,18.