NASA’s Insight lander is now on its way to Mars, where it’ll land in November 2018 for a unique mission: study the interior of the Red Planet. Hopefully, it’ll glean new insights into what Mars might been like when it was younger, and give us an idea of how other rocky planets might have formed.
The lander was originally scheduled to launch in 2016, but was delayed until May 2018. Once it lands, it will measure marsquakes — rumblings in the planet’s crust caused by contractions as the planet cools. This data will tell us quite a bit more about the composition of the planet, and could give us a good idea of what the planet might have looked like when it was younger.
It’s accompanied by a pair of small satellites — MarCO-A and MarCO-B — which will serve as an experimental communications-relay network for InSight when it lands later this year. They’ll attempt to send information to NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is already in orbit around the planet, which in turn will relay the information to Earth.
Watch NASA engineers track the harrowing landing of a spacecraft on Mars today
This afternoon, NASA will attempt to land its latest spacecraft — a vehicle called InSight that will sit on the planet’s surface and listen for quakes over the next two years — on Mars. But first, it must survive a harrowing descent to the ground. NASA plans to use multiple spacecraft around Mars to confirm that InSight lands intact.
Once the lander hits the top of Mars’ atmosphere, it will perform a complicated multistep landing routine that will last between six and seven minutes. During the first phase, InSight will free-fall through the atmosphere using a heat shield for protection as the surrounding air slams into the spacecraft, heating it up to temperatures of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The atmosphere will slow the lander significantly, but InSight will need to deploy a supersonic parachute to slow even further. Eventually, the lander will ignite onboard thrusters, which will lower the vehicle to the ground.
Read Article >NASA’s InSight lander has just six and a half minutes to land on Mars in one piece
An artistic rendering of InSight landing on Mars Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechEarly next week, NASA will attempt the grueling feat of landing a spacecraft on Mars, hoping to add to its growing collection of tech on the Red Planet’s surface. This time, NASA hopes to place a robotic lander, called InSight, on a flat, boring part of the Martian terrain in order to study the planet’s interior. And to do that, the car-sized robot must perform a perfectly synchronized landing routine — one that will slow the vehicle down from more than 12,000 miles per hour to zero in just six-and-a-half minutes.
Launched on May 5th from California, InSight has been traveling through space for the last six months and is scheduled to enter Mars’ atmosphere on Monday, November 26th. During its descent to the surface, the lander will be subject to extremely high temperatures, speeds, and forces. To survive, InSight will autonomously go through dozens of programmed steps, such as deploying a supersonic parachute and igniting onboard thrusters. Each of the steps must happen at precisely the right time to help the lander touch down safely. “[We have] to take out all this energy we have when we arrive at Mars so we have a soft landing when we get to the surface,” Rob Grover, the systems lead on the landing for InSight at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tells The Verge.
Read Article >NASA’s InSight lander successfully takes off on its way to Mars
Update May 5th, 8:35AM ET: United Launch Alliance successfully launched its InSight lander this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which will now head off to Mars to conduct its mission when it arrives in November 2018.
NASA’s next robotic explorer is beginning its deep-space voyage to Mars. The lander InSight is set to take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the beginning of a six and a half month journey to the Red Planet. Once there, the little spacecraft will listen for quakes to figure out what Mars is made of.
Read Article >Why NASA is launching a spacecraft to Mars to feel the planet as it rumbles
A rendering of the InSight lander on Mars Image: NASAOn Saturday, NASA is launching its latest Mars explorer — a robot that will sit on the surface of the Red Planet and measure the world as it wobbles. This mission, InSight, is different from previous Mars vehicles, which studied the planet’s surface. Instead, InSight will be helping scientists to peer underneath the crust, to learn more about Mars’ insides, and that could tell us a whole lot about how this planet was born.
InSight is a lander, not a rover; once it touches down on Mars, it will stay put for the rest of its lifetime on the planet. From this stationary post, InSight will detect what are known as marsquakes. Like earthquakes, they’re rumblings in the planet’s crust — but they aren’t caused by the same forces. Earthquakes are often the result of our planet’s tectonic plates slipping past each other on the surface. Marsquakes are thought to happen when the planet cools and contracts, causing the crust to crinkle slightly.
Read Article >I flew with the next NASA spacecraft that will land on Mars
Inside a bright, cavernous room, a giant white metal box is rising toward the ceiling. A cable and pulley system tugs the box upward, and it ascends at just an inch a minute.
I’m staring at this box along with 30 or so other people, all of whom are wearing white. No, not wearing white — covered in white. Every person sports a white cloth onesie. No hands or shoes can be seen; all are shrouded in gloves and booties. Even hair doesn’t exist here. Every head is veiled in more white cloth. The only exposed skin I can see are the small slivers of flesh around each individual’s eyes. Mouths must be hidden, too.
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