The next NASA robot to explore Mars, called InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 5, 2018 with the lander due to set down on Mars’ surface in November 2018.
InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch at 4:05 a.m. PDT (11:05 UTC; translate UTC to your time) from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.
You can watch the launch live on NASA TV. Coverage begins at 3:30 a.m PDT (10:30 UTC). Watch here. The prelaunch briefing and launch commentary will also be streamed live on YouTube here. There are two official launch viewing sites for the public in Lompoc, California. Information on these sites here.
Launching on the same rocket is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO consists of two mini-spacecraft and will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.
The Atlas V rocket will have an initial trajectory towards the south-southeast, and NASA said:
Weather permitting, InSight’s pre-dawn launch may be visible for more than 10 million Californians without a need for them to drive to a special location. Just wake up early, check the InSight website for assurance the launch is still on schedule, go outside, look at the western sky, marvel at the rocket’s flare as it travels southward…
Mars Insight launch countdown here
Suggested viewing locations for the Mars InSight launch
In past decades, orbiters have peered down on Mars from above, and robotic rovers have crept along its surface. Mars InSight is designed to study what’s inside Mars. The stationary lander – similar to the 2008 Phoenix lander on the red planet – will help scientists understand how the rocky planets in our solar system – like Mars, Venus and Earth – formed. The mission’s objective is to detect seismic activity on Mars and analyse the subsurface by studying the thickness and size of Mars’ core, mantle and crust.
InSight will also detect the frequency of ongoing meteorite impacts. Mars is closer than Earth to the asteroid belt, which lies between it and the next planet outward, Jupiter. Mars’ atmosphere is thinner than Earth’s. These two conditions might contribute to hundreds of small space rocks reaching the surface of our neighboring planet.
The solar-powered lander will deploy a seismometer built by the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) from the French Space Agency. It also contains a heat probe to monitor heat flow from Mars’ interior, which was provided by the German Aerospace Center, and other instruments built by Italy, Spain, and NASA’s JPL. The mission is scheduled to last two years.
Mars InSight mission landing site on Mars via NASA/JPL.
Landing on Mars is hard, and some spacecraft have crashed while attempting it. Before the Curiosity rover mission landed in 2012, the mission team described the lander’s planned descent through Mars’ thin atmosphere and (ultimately successful) landing attempt as seven minutes of terror.
InSight will be landing in a way similar to Curiosity. InSight will enter Mars’ atmosphere at 14,100 miles per hour (22,692 km/h). During the entry phase, it will use very small rockets to adjust its initial trajectory toward the surface. Then it uses a large parachute, and then 12 descent engines or “retrojets,” whose firings will be continuously adjusted by an onboard computer in order to keep the spacecraft leveled and slowing down until the moment of touchdown. This type of landing technology was successfully used by the Viking 1 and 2 landers in 1976, and by the Phoenix lander in 2008. The Curiosity rover, which descended on Mars on 2012, added a skycrane with cables to this technology, to avoid dust over the rover’s instruments and cameras.
Here’s a page that describes InSight’s landing in more detail.
Click here for a good article about the challenges of landing on Mars
InSight will attempt to land in Elysium Planitia, an area not far from the Curiosity’s landing site, along the equator of the red planet.
By the way, Mars will be having a close encounter with Earth this summer. It’ll be the best Mars viewing since 2003, which was the best viewing in some 60,000 years. In addition to providing earthly skywatchers with grand views of the red planet’s features through a telescope, this 2018 opposition of Mars also provides a good opportunity to send a Mars spacecraft winging its way.
Bon voyage, Mars InSight!
Mars InSight carries a suite of instruments designed to measure Mars on the inside. Illustration via NASA/JPL.
Bottom line: Mars InSight is scheduled to launch May 5, 2018. Californians will be able to see the launch, which will be at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2Ejgzir
The next NASA robot to explore Mars, called InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 5, 2018 with the lander due to set down on Mars’ surface in November 2018.
InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch at 4:05 a.m. PDT (11:05 UTC; translate UTC to your time) from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.
You can watch the launch live on NASA TV. Coverage begins at 3:30 a.m PDT (10:30 UTC). Watch here. The prelaunch briefing and launch commentary will also be streamed live on YouTube here. There are two official launch viewing sites for the public in Lompoc, California. Information on these sites here.
Launching on the same rocket is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO consists of two mini-spacecraft and will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.
The Atlas V rocket will have an initial trajectory towards the south-southeast, and NASA said:
Weather permitting, InSight’s pre-dawn launch may be visible for more than 10 million Californians without a need for them to drive to a special location. Just wake up early, check the InSight website for assurance the launch is still on schedule, go outside, look at the western sky, marvel at the rocket’s flare as it travels southward…
Mars Insight launch countdown here
Suggested viewing locations for the Mars InSight launch
In past decades, orbiters have peered down on Mars from above, and robotic rovers have crept along its surface. Mars InSight is designed to study what’s inside Mars. The stationary lander – similar to the 2008 Phoenix lander on the red planet – will help scientists understand how the rocky planets in our solar system – like Mars, Venus and Earth – formed. The mission’s objective is to detect seismic activity on Mars and analyse the subsurface by studying the thickness and size of Mars’ core, mantle and crust.
InSight will also detect the frequency of ongoing meteorite impacts. Mars is closer than Earth to the asteroid belt, which lies between it and the next planet outward, Jupiter. Mars’ atmosphere is thinner than Earth’s. These two conditions might contribute to hundreds of small space rocks reaching the surface of our neighboring planet.
The solar-powered lander will deploy a seismometer built by the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) from the French Space Agency. It also contains a heat probe to monitor heat flow from Mars’ interior, which was provided by the German Aerospace Center, and other instruments built by Italy, Spain, and NASA’s JPL. The mission is scheduled to last two years.
Mars InSight mission landing site on Mars via NASA/JPL.
Landing on Mars is hard, and some spacecraft have crashed while attempting it. Before the Curiosity rover mission landed in 2012, the mission team described the lander’s planned descent through Mars’ thin atmosphere and (ultimately successful) landing attempt as seven minutes of terror.
InSight will be landing in a way similar to Curiosity. InSight will enter Mars’ atmosphere at 14,100 miles per hour (22,692 km/h). During the entry phase, it will use very small rockets to adjust its initial trajectory toward the surface. Then it uses a large parachute, and then 12 descent engines or “retrojets,” whose firings will be continuously adjusted by an onboard computer in order to keep the spacecraft leveled and slowing down until the moment of touchdown. This type of landing technology was successfully used by the Viking 1 and 2 landers in 1976, and by the Phoenix lander in 2008. The Curiosity rover, which descended on Mars on 2012, added a skycrane with cables to this technology, to avoid dust over the rover’s instruments and cameras.
Here’s a page that describes InSight’s landing in more detail.
Click here for a good article about the challenges of landing on Mars
InSight will attempt to land in Elysium Planitia, an area not far from the Curiosity’s landing site, along the equator of the red planet.
By the way, Mars will be having a close encounter with Earth this summer. It’ll be the best Mars viewing since 2003, which was the best viewing in some 60,000 years. In addition to providing earthly skywatchers with grand views of the red planet’s features through a telescope, this 2018 opposition of Mars also provides a good opportunity to send a Mars spacecraft winging its way.
Bon voyage, Mars InSight!
Mars InSight carries a suite of instruments designed to measure Mars on the inside. Illustration via NASA/JPL.
Bottom line: Mars InSight is scheduled to launch May 5, 2018. Californians will be able to see the launch, which will be at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2Ejgzir
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