Posted on 11/22/2018 6:58:21 PM PST by aquila48
All systems are go for landing on Mars on Nov. 26, NASA personnel affiliated with the InSight mission confirmed during a pair of news conferences held today (Nov. 21).
As of that news conference, the spacecraft had traveled about 295 million miles (475 million kilometers) of the 301 million miles (484 million km) that will make up its total journey. But one of the most serious hurdles remains, the entry, descent and landing process, which will begin at about 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) on Monday (Nov. 26).
"My heart is beating inside of my chest like a drum," NASA project manager Tom Hoffman said during the news conference. "While everybody's off having turkey tomorrow, there will be a bunch of people here at JPL [NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory] working all day long, hopefully taking a little bit of a break for a turkey dinner, but largely working to make sure we land successfully on Mars." [NASA's InSight Mars Lander: Full Coverage]
Part of that work will include determining whether the spacecraft needs one more tiny nudge to get it in place for the landing. Since it launched, InSight has made four tiny tweaks to its path to ensure it arrives on target. It was able to skip one additional maneuver because the others have gone so smoothly, and the team thinks the probe may be able to skip the final adjustment, scheduled for Nov. 25.
Lining up the spacecraft properly will boost the odds that everything will go smoothly during entry, descent and landing. Although that process lasts for less than 7 minutes, a lot could go wrong as the spacecraft abruptly slows from its initial speed of 12,000 mph (19,300 km/h) down to just 5 mph (8 km/h) when the lander touches down.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Looks like it comes with a floor jack for emergencies?
That's a ground boring drill.
If they are looking for alien lifeforms, drop a Lander on San Francisco. They will be sure to find plenty there. Next landing site, the U.S. Congress.
Have you ever seen a picture of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca)? No doubt about alien life forms on earth anymore.
I wonder if it will take a picture of the flag the astronauts left?
This one is a stationary model?
Well, I hope it it learns A LOT from that one spot!
Why ain’t it a rover? And why do they never send a video camera with sound? It’s always just silent pictures.
Excellent point. My guess is that the next one will have it, forever insuring more useless funding.
How soon after landing can the astronauts get out and stretch their legs?
Seriously, NASA - Good going!
One of the things it’s going to do is drill a 16 foot deep well....they will check the temperature continuously (up & down) through the well. They want to see if the temp goes from cold to warm or the other way around.
No one’s going to Mars, build anything, terraform it and colonize it. Ever. It’s a pipe dream. Ask yourself why we haven’t even been back to the Moon? Why haven’t we even seen the darkside of the Moon? Those who do try it are dead even before they go; they aren’t coming back. Landers and exploratory equipment; yes.
So let’s send libtards, antifa filth, BLM subhumans, hard-lefter pols etc etc etc. Put our tax money to good use. Soros & Steyer can afford it; send them too.
Mars does not deserve to be contaminated by the DNA of either of those two.
A pair of tiny satellites that traveled with InSight, called Mars Cube One or MarCO..
I would have named one Phobos Orbit Laboratory/Observer or POLO
Not really the “dark side” of the moon, but more correctly, the “far side” of the moon as the entire surface of the moon spends the same amount of time in sunlight.
Ummm...anyway
We’ve see the “dark side” of the moon.
Many times.
Lots of photos.
It’s been radar mapped very precisely.
That’s a ground boring drill.
Uh huh. Next you’ll be telling us the popcorn popper is really some sort of science thing.
OK, the “far side”, then.
It looks like it has a couple of pets.
Heh. It looks like a mosquito.
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