Updates InSight mission news and updates

[Screamer7]

I always come to the Orbiter Forum website for some really useful info and updates. Thanks a lot, guys. And congratulations NASA.:thumbup:

 

[Yuri_Gagarin]

Who watched it live.

 

[Urwumpe]

Who watched it live.

I did. After all, it happened on prime time in Germany, between 20:00 and 21:00 local time...

Also, some former coworkers of me had been involved in the HP³ payload. Not sure if they still remember me after 20 years, but I remember fixing their computers as in my first weeks as apprentice. :lol:

 

[RisingFury]

Who watched it live.

Nobody.

 

[francisdrake]

I watched it live on NASA TV, and in parallel on NASA eyes on the solar system.

Every Mars landing is thrilling! It is a pity that the actual status is only reported verbally, no pictures until after landing. It would be cool to have a cubesat flying overhead taking pictures of the fiery reentry streak.

 

[Urwumpe]

Nobody.

Einstein might disagree with you. :lol:

 

[C3PO]

Who watched it live.

Nobody.

I watched it relatively live! :lol:

 

[dbeachy1]

I watched it live on the NASA stream on YouTube. :thumbup:

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I watched it live*.



*: Communications system lag and speed-of-light delays may apply.

 

[Notebook]

Bbc news had it live, was also watching nasa feed.

 

[4throck]

Nasa TV Youtube stream on the large living room TV

 

[C3PO]

Bbc news had it live, was also watching nasa feed.

Sky News didn't show it live, but the news team was impressed by the pictures from the rover of the Moon. :facepalm:

 

[Wuwuk]

I watched live on youtube (nasa jpl channel).

 

[Donamy]

Did something land on Mars ?

 

[RisingFury]

Did something land on Mars ?

It's all relative. Mars may have landed on something...

 

[4throck]

A bit frustrated by the lack of communication regarding the mission's progress.
I know this mission is slow paced, images are secondary, etc, etc.

But a short update about what's happening on each SOL would good.

 

[Ripley]

...But a short update about what's happening on each SOL would good.

Curiosity Rover Reports spoiled our...curiosity!

 

[4throck]

Agreed.

To be fair I don't how the international participation regarding instruments might affect operations speed.
If you need to pass data around to teams over many different timezones and countries, any decision will take 3 days.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Some updates:

Things are going well!

NASA’s InSight spacecraft flipped open the lens cover on its Instrument Context Camera (ICC) on Nov. 30, 2018, and captured this view of Mars. Located below the deck of the InSight lander, the ICC has a fisheye view, creating a curved horizon. Some clumps of dust are still visible on the camera’s lens. One of the spacecraft’s footpads can be seen in the lower right corner. The seismometer’s tether box is in the upper left corner.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

...the vehicle sits slightly tilted (about 4 degrees) in a shallow dust- and sand-filled impact crater known as a "hollow." InSight has been engineered to operate on a surface with an inclination up to 15 degrees.

...

The InSight science team's preliminary assessment of the photographs taken so far of the landing area suggests the area in the immediate vicinity of the lander is populated by only a few rocks. Higher-resolution images are expected to begin arriving over the coming days, after InSight releases the clear-plastic dust covers that kept the optics of the spacecraft's two cameras safe during landing.

Data downlinked from the lander also indicate that during its first full day on Mars, the solar-powered InSight spacecraft generated more electrical power than any previous vehicle on the surface of Mars.

"It is great to get our first 'off-world record' on our very first full day on Mars," said Hoffman. "But even better than the achievement of generating more electricity than any mission before us is what it represents for performing our upcoming engineering tasks. The 4,588 watt-hours we produced during sol 1 means we currently have more than enough juice to perform these tasks and move forward with our science mission."

As visible in this two-frame set of images, NASA’s InSight spacecraft unlatched its robotic arm on Nov. 27, 2018, the day after it landed on Mars.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA

 

[Nicholas Kang]

She's flexing her arm now!

This image from InSight's robotic-arm mounted Instrument Deployment Camera shows the instruments on the spacecraft's deck, with the Martian surface of Elysium Planitia in the background. The image was received on Dec. 4, 2018 (Sol 8).

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New images from NASA's Mars InSight lander show its robotic arm is ready to do some lifting.

With a reach of nearly 6 feet (2 meters), the arm will be used to pick up science instruments from the lander's deck, gently setting them on the Martian surface at Elysium Planitia, the lava plain where InSight touched down on Nov. 26.

But first, the arm will use its Instrument Deployment Camera, located on its elbow, to take photos of the terrain in front of the lander. These images will help mission team members determine where to set InSight's seismometer and heat flow probe — the only instruments ever to be robotically placed on the surface of another planet.

"Today we can see the first glimpses of our workspace," said Bruce Banerdt, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "By early next week, we'll be imaging it in finer detail and creating a full mosaic."

Another camera, called the Instrument Context Camera, is located under the lander's deck. It will also offer views of the workspace, though the view won't be as pretty.

An image of InSight's robotic arm, with its scoop and stowed grapple, poised above the Martian soil. The image was received on Dec. 4, 2018 (Sol 8).

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

"We had a protective cover on the Instrument Context Camera, but somehow dust still managed to get onto the lens," said Tom Hoffman of JPL, InSight's project manager. "While this is unfortunate, it will not affect the role of the camera, which is to take images of the area in front of the lander where our instruments will eventually be placed."

Placement is critical, and the team is proceeding with caution. Two to three months could go by before the instruments have been situated and calibrated.

Over the past week and a half, mission engineers have been testing those instruments and spacecraft systems, ensuring they're in working order. A couple instruments are even recording data: a drop in air pressure, possibly caused by a passing dust devil, was detected by the pressure sensor. This, along with a magnetometer and a set of wind and temperature sensors, are part of a package called the Auxiliary Payload Sensor Subsystem, which will collect meteorological data.

More images from InSight's arm were scheduled to come down this past weekend. However, imaging was momentarily interrupted, resuming the following day. During the first few weeks in its new home, InSight has been instructed to be extra careful, so anything unexpected will trigger what's called a fault. Considered routine, it causes the spacecraft to stop what it is doing and ask for help from operators on the ground.

A partial view of the deck of NASA's InSight lander, where it stands on the Martian plains Elysium Planitia. The image was received on Dec. 4, 2018 (Sol 8).

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA