InSight mission to study deep beneath the Martian surface, lands 26 Nov 2018

[2hats]

For the first time InSight is now communicating directly on X band through the Deep Space Network (DSS 43 in Canberra) rather than relayed via MarCo, MRO or Mars Odyssey (though the latter two will perform the bulk of science data relay back to Earth in the coming months).

 

[editor]

We're going to need some patience before the science starts happening:

InSight arrived at its new home yesterday afternoon (Nov. 26), acing a touchdown on an equatorial plane called Elysium Planitia. The lander will begin probing the Red Planet's interior in unprecedented detail — a few months from now.

It'll take that long for InSight to deploy and calibrate its two main science instruments, a burrowing heat probe and a suite of super-sensitive seismometers. This gear must be placed on the Martian surface by the lander's robotic arm, and InSight team members want to make sure they get this crucial step — which no other Mars robot has ever done — exactly right. [NASA's InSight Mars Lander: Full Coverage]

So, the researchers will spend the next few weeks studying InSight's landing site carefully, deciding on the best deployment area. Then they'll practice deployment using a testbed lander here at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which manages InSight's mission.

This work will include "terraforming" the testbed to resemble InSight's actual environs on the Red Planet, mission instrument operations lead Elizabeth Barrett of JPL said yesterday during a post-landing news conference here.

Barrett likened deployment to a very difficult and high-stakes version of an arcade claw-machine game.

"It makes it a little bit longer — you need to take more pauses, to make sure you actually have the grapple on the payload before you lift it up, and it's actually on the ground before you let it go," Barrett said.

InSight's arm will actually perform three such placements, because it will drop a shield over the seismometer suite to insulate the instrument from wind and temperature swings, which could interfere with data collection and interpretation.

It'll take two to three months to finish the deployments, Barrett said, "and then another couple of months" before InSight's ready to begin its Mars science campaign in earnest. The additional time will be needed for the heat probe to hammer itself up to 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface, and to calibrate both instruments properly.

What's Next for NASA's New Mars Lander?

 

[NoXion]

How did it get there so fast? It launched in May so it took barely more than 6 and a half months. Using a chemical rocket. Favourable planetary positions?

 

[2hats]

How did it get there so fast? It launched in May so it took barely more than 6 and a half months. Using a chemical rocket. Favourable planetary positions?

Precise timing can vary with launch vehicle, payload mass, timing with respect to the transfer window, planetary positioning, but it was a fairly standard Hohmann transfer orbit (though the launch vehicle had plenty of energy in reserve and InSight is a pretty lightweight payload). The predominate factor governing the cruise time is the relative offset of the major/minor axes of the orbits of the Earth and Mars (their orbits are not circular). So it can take anywhere between approx. 6 to 8 months.

 

[NoXion]

Precise timing can vary with launch vehicle, payload mass, timing with respect to the transfer window, planetary positioning, but it was a fairly standard Hohmann transfer orbit (though the launch vehicle had plenty of energy in reserve and InSight is a pretty lightweight payload). The predominate factor governing the cruise time is the relative offset of the major/minor axes of the orbits of the Earth and Mars (their orbits are not circular). So it can take anywhere between approx. 6 to 8 months.

I thought it could take up to a year, or even two years, presumably using a Hohmann transfer orbit. I might be getting that confused with a potential manned Mars mission, perhaps.

 

[Crispy]

I thought it could take up to a year, or even two years, presumably using a Hohmann transfer orbit. I might be getting that confused with a potential manned Mars mission, perhaps.

No, this is about the same as every mission to Mars. It's quite a close planet, relatively speaking. The gas giants take a long time to get to cos they're much further away, and Mercury take a long time to slingshot up enough velocity to get there. Venus and Mars can be got to pretty quickly (3 and 6 months)

 

[2hats]

The case of getting to Mercury is similar to that of the Parker Solar Probe discussed previously. As per Mr Kepler and Mr Newton heading towards the inner solar system trades gravitational potential energy for kinetic energy. The spacecraft arrive hot (not just thermally). So time is needed to bleed this energy off for arrival. In the case of Messenger to Mercury that took the best part of 7 years and 6 flybys (in effect reverse slingshot manoeuvres in order to decelerate).

I thought it could take up to a year, or even two years, presumably using a Hohmann transfer orbit. I might be getting that confused with a potential manned Mars mission, perhaps.

Yes, perhaps you are thinking manned and/or sample return flight to Mars timescale?

 

[Supine]

Looking forward to updates. It's great to see some crazy space science being done

 

[2hats]

Unfortunately this time round MRO’s HiRISE camera didn’t manage to get a descent image as the detector oversaturated.

 

[SpookyFrank]

3D images here:

Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2082

e2a: Wrong Mars lander, carry on

 

[Limejuice]

3D images here:

Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2082

e2a: Wrong Mars lander, carry on

That surface seems a bit less forgiving than they planned for. I'm looking at that boulder a couple of feet away, which could have given the thing a severe list. Still, fortune favours the brave, etc.

 

[SpookyFrank]

That surface seems a bit less forgiving than they planned for. I'm looking at that boulder a couple of feet away, which could have given the thing a severe list. Still, fortune favours the brave, etc.

Yeah those pictures are from Curiosity, not the new lander. Sounds like the new one has managed to land in a pretty perfect spot.

 

[Limejuice]

Yeah those pictures are from Curiosity, not the new lander. Sounds like the new one has managed to land in a pretty perfect spot.

Ah, right you are. There's still a rock close to InSight. But it's only the size of an arrowhead... Wait a minute... arrow heads on Mars?

 

[2hats]

The arm is getting a good workout now as they start to survey the immediate terrain to determine good locations to site the seismometer and drill.

 

[2hats]

InSight has recorded the first ever sounds on the surface of Mars.

InSight sensors captured a haunting low rumble caused by vibrations from the wind, estimated to be blowing between 10 to 15 mph (5 to 7 meters a second) on Dec. 1, from northwest to southeast. The winds were consistent with the direction of dust devil streaks in the landing area, which were observed from orbit.

Two very sensitive sensors on the spacecraft detected these wind vibrations: an air pressure sensor inside the lander and a seismometer sitting on the lander's deck, awaiting deployment by InSight's robotic arm. The two instruments recorded the wind noise in different ways. The air pressure sensor, part of the Auxiliary Payload Sensor Subsystem (APSS), which will collect meteorological data, recorded these air vibrations directly. The seismometer recorded lander vibrations caused by the wind moving over the spacecraft's solar panels, which are each 7 feet (2.2 meters) in diameter and stick out from the sides of the lander like a giant pair of ears.

"The InSight lander acts like a giant ear," said Tom Pike, InSight science team member and sensor designer at Imperial College London. "The solar panels on the lander's sides respond to pressure fluctuations of the wind. It's like InSight is cupping its ears and hearing the Mars wind beating on it. When we looked at the direction of the lander vibrations coming from the solar panels, it matches the expected wind direction at our landing site". Pike compared the effect to a flag in the wind. As a flag breaks up the wind, it creates oscillations in air pressure that the human ear perceives as flapping. Separately, APSS records changes in pressure directly from the thin Martian air.

Unlike the vibrations recorded by the short period sensors, audio from APSS is about 10 hertz, below the range of human hearing. The raw audio sample from the seismometer was released unaltered; a second version was raised two octaves to be more perceptible to the human ear - especially when heard through laptop or mobile speakers. The second audio sample from APSS was sped up by a factor of 100, which shifted it up in frequency.

 

[Wookey]

Just listened to the wind on Mars.

MIND = BLOWN

 

[a_chap]

Everyone seems to have overlooked that Huygens recorded the sound of wind on Titan in 2005.

 

[2hats]

Everyone seems to have overlooked that Huygens recorded the sound of wind on Titan in 2005.

No, I don’t think they have. This is a Mars thread

 

[editor]

Everyone seems to have overlooked that Huygens recorded the sound of wind on Titan in 2005.

That is fantastic.

 

[Wookey]

I know the Man on the Moon episode had the visuals, but this is up there as a close second imo - what my species is capable of when we try is quite, quite incredible.

Imagine a fella with a Go-Pro on the surface of Mars - can't wait!

 

[editor]

First selfie

Here's the workspace around the lander

NASA's New Mars Lander Takes 1st Selfie, Scopes Out Workspace

 

[existentialist]

First selfie

It looks like it's about to burst into "Singin' In The Rain"

 

[2hats]

MRO’s HiRISE camera has spotted InSight and her backshell/chute and heat shield on the surface of Mars:

 

[2hats]

Surface instrument deployment time - first up the SEIS seismometer has been deployed on the surface and the cable to it laid…


The wind and thermal shield for it can now be deployed.

 

[2hats]

SEIS has just been levelled low - ie has squatted down next to the surface to optimise coupling for seismic signal pickup. The shield can now be placed over it.

 

[existentialist]

SEIS has just been levelled low - ie has squatted down next to the surface to optimise coupling for seismic signal pickup. The shield can now be placed over it.

I love it when a robot talks French.

 

[fishfinger]

I love it when a robot talks French.

Je suis désolé, Dave. J'ai bien peur de ne pas pouvoir faire ça.

 

[2hats]

The wind and thermal shield has now been grappled ready to deploy it over the seismometer.

 

[NoXion]

Has it really taken a month between putting the seismometer on the ground, and putting the shield over it?

Good grief. I'll remember this the next time some idiot claims that robotic exploration can replace humans entirely. A human on the ground could have gotten something like that done in five or ten minutes.

 

[2hats]

The human would get bored and make for a great source of noise for the seismometer.

The delay is waiting whilst they ensure it is setup in such a manner so as to minimise all possible sources of interference, has settled in the soil fully and the data/power cable is tension-free and bedded down. They have to level the instrument and conduct initial engineering tests to ensure the data is of sufficient quality before they put the cover on (because if it is not then they will want to relocate it and then retest). DSN scheduling/bandwidth also adds to delay to the process.

This process was always scheduled to take up to 2 months after landing and they obviously want to get it right (it's the main point of the mission), it has never been done before and they get a limited number of shots at this (relocation options are limited once the cable to the instrument is laid).