RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, NASA has successfully launched the robotic lander InSight on Mars which is designed to study the interior of the planet; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of this event by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, InSight touched down on November 26, 2018 after travelling 300 million miles and unfurled its solar panels and began to recharge its batteries; and
WHEREAS, As the electrical power flowed, InSight almost immediately sent back its first snapshot of Mars shortly after 2 p.m. Chicago time; and
WHEREAS, NASA's flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California screamed, danced and hugged in celebration as InSight began to go through its paces; and
WHEREAS, InSight is designed to drill down into Mars' interior and study the earliest evolutionary history of the processes that shaped the "red planet"; and
WHEREAS, The robotic lander is equipped with a special seismometer to measure seismic activity and provide accurate 3D models of the planet's interior; and
WHEREAS, The event marked both the eighth successful landing on Mars since the Viking probes and the first landing in six years; and
WHEREAS, The scientific expertise, hard work and dedication of NASA serve as an example to all; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members of the Chicago City Council, assembled this twelfth day of December, 2018, do hereby congratulate NASA on the successful landing of