Updates InSight mission news and updates

[boogabooga]

Has there ever been a NASA program that didn't run over budget though?

I may have simply forgotten, but I don't recall ever reading about a program that managed to stay within budget. Even if there was, InSight going over budget is the opposite of surprising, given NASA's track record.

Knowing exactly how much something costs = knowing exactly how hard it will be = not ambitious enough. :2cents:

Besides, it was a CNES part that failed.

 

[Lmoy]

Knowing exactly how much something costs = knowing exactly how hard it will be = not ambitious enough.

I agree (mostly), and that's why hard limits on program budgets are so obviously a bad idea. Rather than saving money they're potentially just throwing away a whole lot to accomplish nothing.

 

[richfororbit]

The Insight probe would tell more about the Martian planet. Prior to late last years decision, the agency had seen this mission as the next step of many after to an eventual mission with personnel to orbit the planet. At least I sure remember watching a clip giving that idea, it may of been of the Administrator.:hmm:

And the next discovery mission would be?

My only real concern on the Mars mission is just the MSL, and I guess the Maven mission too.

 

[RGClark]

Preparations for Deployment of InSight Lander to Mars are Ramping Up!
Article written: 2 Sep , 2017
Updated: 3 Sep , 2017
by Matt Williams
https://www.universetoday.com/137036/preparations-deployment-insight-lander-mars-rampting/

Mars InSight scheduled to land near the equator in 2018 already will be a great geology mission, but the recent discovery of large water deposits near the equator on Mars raises the possibility it could also be a great astrobiology mission:

Water ice found near Mars’s equator could entice colonists and life-seekers.
Find also poses climate puzzle.
SCIENCEMAG.ORG

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017...uator-could-entice-colonists-and-life-seekers

The full research article is available free, full-text online:

Equatorial locations of water on Mars: Improved resolution maps based on Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer data.
Icarus, Volume 299, 1 January 2018, Pages 148-160.
Jack T.Wilson, Vincent R.Eke, Richard J.Massey, Richard C.Elphic, William C.Feldman, Sylvestre Maurice, Luís F.A.Teodoro
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103516306029

Mars Insight is scheduled to land in Elysium Planitia at 4°N 136°E:

Mars Insight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InSight#Scientific_payload

Here is a map from the Icarus paper showing the regions of high water(ice) content:

Notice in the second panel in the image there is a region of high water indicated in blue near the Mars Insight landing site. However, for Mars landers you can't get the landing position exactly right and there is unfortunately a larger area above and to the right of very low water content indicated in red near the landing site. The question is could they stick the landing near the high water region?

One of the Mars Insight instruments might be ideal for detecting the near surface water since it will include a subsurface borer able to drill down to 5 meters:

But what instruments could be used to distinguish liquid water from ice water?

In view of the possibility of liquid water existing near surface, I would also like to see a true microscope put on the lander. Of all the landers sent to Mars none included a true optical microscope. The best optical resolution of the imagers sent to Mars were no better than that of a geologist's hand lens.

Bob Clark

 

[Urwumpe]

A thermometer?

 

[RGClark]

It's ironic that I'm the one updating this thread given my distaste for the mission. The news is over a week old, but a favored landing location for InSight has been chosen.

JPL: "Single Site on Mars Advanced for 2016 NASA Lander"

This map shows the single area under continuing evaluation as the InSight mission's Mars landing site, as of a year before the mission's May 2016 launch. The finalist ellipse marked within the northern portion of flat-lying Elysium Planitia is centered at about 4.5 degrees north latitude and 136 degrees east longitude.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech​

How does the landing ellipse compare to the position of the area of high water content marked off in the attached image?



Bob Clark

 

[RGClark]

A thermometer?

Yes, that would certainly help with pure water. However, the addition of salts is known to lower the freezing point so the water could be liquid below the usual freezing point.

Mars Phoenix had an instrument MECA that had a thermometer and a electrical conductivity sensor to detect liquid water:

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_meca.php

Bob Clark

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes, that would certainly help with pure water. However, the addition of salts is known to lower the freezing point so the water could be liquid below the usual freezing point.

It was primarily meant as a jest, of course salinity and the kind of salt matters there. But you could at least be sure: At less than -21°C, it must be frozen.

BUT: If there would be seasonally freezing groundwater, it could be relatively salt-free. By freezing saltwater, it gets desalinated. (A cheap survival trick for getting freshwater)

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Time to update this one as well.

Launching in 1 month time (May 5)

NASA's InSight to Mars will be the first interplanetary launch from America’s West Coast. Residents in some of California’s coastal communities could get a front row seat when the mission launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Here’s when and where to see it. Additional information on in-person viewing locations at: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/timeline/launch/watch-in-person/

Additional information on the launch and the Atlas V rocket:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2018-069

 

[IronRain]

InSight ready for final preparations for a trip to land on Mars

NASA’s InSight Mars lander is ready for the final processing sprint before its launch opportunity opens in a month’s time. NASA and prime contractor Lockheed Martin held a media day for the spacecraft, whose long name is the “Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport,” at its Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site on April 6, allowing for a last up-close look before it is sealed in its payload shroud for launch.

InSight’s launch opportunity this year runs from May 5 to June 8. It will be launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket, which is also completing final preparations at Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-3 (SLC-3) for spacecraft mating in two weeks.

{...}

Source:
NASA Spaceflight.com: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/04/insight-final-preparations-trip-land-mars//

 

[Notebook]

Prof Tom Pike from Imperial College London is part of the science team on the US-led InSight mission to Mars. His group has supplied seismometers that will enable the Nasa lander to detect "Marsquakes", which should reveal the internal structure of the Red Planet. Over the course of the coming months, Prof Pike will be updating us on InSight's progress.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43967633

The Mars sensor inspired by lobsters and cathedrals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29128876

 

[IronRain]

Managers clear InSight for launch after heat shield review

NASA officials have determined that the robotic InSight lander is ready for its mission to Mars after concluding that the probe should not suffer the same flaw that led to a crack in a heat shield undergoing tests for the space agency’s Mars 2020 rover, InSight’s chief scientist said Monday.

Managers who participated in a flight readiness review Monday gave approval for ground teams to continue InSight launch preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff on an Atlas 5 rocket Saturday during a two-hour window opening at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT).

Source:
Spaceflightnow.com: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/01/managers-clear-insight-for-launch-after-heat-shield-review/

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Less than one day to launch! Some video:

Live broadcast from NASA TV (will begin at 3:30 a.m. PDT (6:30 a.m. EDT; 1030 GMT) on May 5):

ULA trajectory design video:

NASA's InSight Mars Mission: Countdown to T-Zero

Prelaunch Briefing (JPL):

Mission Profile:

Don't forget to try out Brian's add-on for this mission!

Godspeed and Good luck, Insight!

 

[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/O...stations_ready_for_NASA_s_InSight_Mars_flight

4 May 2018
NASA’s latest mission to Mars begins tomorrow. ESA deep space ground stations in Australia and South America will track the InSight spacecraft on NASA’s behalf as it begins its cruise to the Red Planet.

“During the critical phase after launch we will be listening out not for one spacecraft but three,” adds Daniel.“InSight itself is accompanied by a pair of CubeSats called MarCOs, which will be monitoring InSight’s own atmospheric entry, descent and landing to return data direct to Earth as they pass by Mars.
“All three spacecraft will be near enough together that we should receive them in the same beam.”

Largest number of spacecraft monitored at one time?

N.

 

[Notebook]

Missed the launch! going ok at the mo.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public

 

[IronRain]

So far so good! Insight is in orbit.

 

[IronRain]

Launch video:

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't really care about the launch video... I hope it lands. :thumbup:

 

[BrianJ]

Just waiting for the Mars Transfer burn :thumbup:

---------- Post added at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 PM ----------

Well done ULA. Bon voyage InSight, Marco_A and Marco_B

 

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43981895

The American space agency Nasa has launched its latest mission to Mars.
InSight will be the first probe to focus its investigations predominantly on the interior of the Red Planet.
The lander - due to touch down in November - will put seismometers on the surface to feel for "Marsquakes".
These tremors should reveal how the underground rock is layered - data that can be compared with Earth to shed further light on the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago.