{"id":1618,"date":"2018-11-02T01:34:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T22:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2018-11-03T01:38:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T22:38:29","slug":"nasas-insight-lander-starts-an-unprecedented-mars-mission-on-cyber-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1618","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s InSight Lander Starts an Unprecedented Mars Mission on Cyber Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While tech geeks go nuts on\u00a0Cyber Monday\u00a0this year, NASA\u2019s\u00a0InSight Landerwill be making its historic touchdown on Mars. It\u2019s expected to land at Elysium Planitia, an equatorial plane, on November 26, marking the first day of a Martian-year-long mission \u2014 that\u2019s 687 days \u2014 to investigate the heart of the red planet. On Wednesday, NASA briefed the public on what exactly InSight will be doing during its stay.
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The lander\u00a0launched on May 5\u00a0from Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the end of its 301 million-mile journey is just the beginning of its real test, which starts with an atmospheric entry. As InSight enters the Martian atmosphere, clad in its heat shields, it will be going over 12,000 miles per hour, says\u00a0Tom Hoffman, the InSight project manager. With the aid of a parachute, the lander will slow down as it falls, and retro-rockets further slow it to five miles per hour by the time it hits the surface. Then InSight will deploy its solar panels, which is when the fun\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we\u2019re the very first lander on Mars to last for an entire Martian year \u2014 so 26 Earth months \u2014 not moving and just using solar power, it\u2019s important to get those solar arrays out,\u201d said Hoffman.<\/p>\n

The lander has some special instruments aboard, so even though it can\u2019t get around, it will still be the first Martian lander to dig deep below the surface of the planet in some key ways.<\/p>\n

InSight Will Measure Seismic Activity on Mars<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0SEIS instrument\u00a0will allow InSight to probe the planet\u2019s geological properties. The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure consists of a small, domed device that will sit on the surface of Mars and collect information about Marsquakes. While Mars doesn\u2019t have\u00a0tectonic plate movement\u00a0like Earth does, it may have seismic activity caused by magma or other geothermal phenomena. During its operational life, the SEIS instrument, with its six seismometers, will record the full spectrum of seismic waves, as well as the direction they\u2019re traveling.<\/p>\n

Bruce Banerdt, Ph.D., the InSight principal investigator, explained that collecting data on the seismic waves will help researchers untangle the mysteries of Mars\u2019 interior construction.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we measure those amplitudes, measure those vibrations at the surface, we have techniques that we can use to sort of unravel the entire pathway through the planet and figure out what kind of materials that they pass through, what kind of interfaces that they may have bounced off of, and then we can use that information to understand the size, the composition, and the configuration of all the layers of the inside of the planet, particularly the core, the mantle, and the crust,\u201d he said. \u201cThese parameters, these divisions and compositions, are all very closely tied to how that planet formed early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the seismic activity on Mars, InSight will delve into the properties of the planet\u2019s crust.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

HP3 Will Collect Data on the Thermal Properties of Mars<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe\u00a0\u2014 HP3 for short \u2014 will let the stationary InSight lander reach beyond its immediate vicinity and investigate the properties of the rock and soil far below the surface. Using a spring-loaded internal hammer, explained\u00a0Sue Smrekar, Ph.D., the InSight deputy principal investigator, the HP3 probe will pound itself deep down below the surface.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t have the benefit of the astronaut to drill a hole for us,\u201d she said, \u201cso the HP-cubed actually has to hammer itself into the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

This probe, affectionately nicknamed \u201cthe mole,\u201d will send out a pulse of heat and then detect how long the surrounding soil takes to cool off. This will tell scientists whether the Martian soil is conducting heat or insulating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to Mars specifically to look back into the origin of the planets of the solar system,\u201d said Banerdt. \u201cIf you really want to know about the very beginning of the planets, sort of the birth of the planets, what happens to them just in the few first tens of millions of years after their formation, Earth is not a very good laboratory.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is because, with its constant volcanic activity and plate tectonics, much of the early evidence of Earth\u2019s formation has been shifted or altered over billions of years. Mars, on the other hand, is large enough to show some of the geological signatures of planetary formation, but since it\u2019s quite seismically inactive, it makes a great place for scientists to investigate the evidence from its early formation.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n