NASA’s InSight Rover

Why is it in news?
  • Nasa's InSight spacecraft is about to endure "seven minutes of terror" and might end them dead on the Martian surface.
  • The lander is the first spacecraft built to explore deep in the interior of Mars, digging down and trying to understand its core.
In Sight Rover
  • InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander.
  • It is designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago.
  • It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
  • Studying Mars' interior structure answers key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars - more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets.
  • InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today.
  • The lander uses cutting edge instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets.
  • It does so by measuring the planet's "vital signs": its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow), and "reflexes" (precision tracking).
  • This mission is part of NASA's Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science.
First CubeSat to Deep Space -
 
  • The rocket that launched InSight also launched a separate NASA technology experiment: two mini-spacecraft called Mars Cube One, or MarCO.
  • These briefcase-sized CubeSats fly on their own path to Mars behind InSight.
MarCO Mission Overview -
 
  • Their goal is to test new miniaturized deep space communication equipment and, if the MarCOs make it to Mars, may relay back InSight data as it enters the Martian atmosphere and lands.
  • This is the first test of miniaturized CubeSat technology at another planet, which researchers hope can offer new capabilities to future missions.
  • If successful, the MarCOs could represent a new kind of communication capability to Earth.
  • InSight’s success is independent of its CubeSat tag-alongs.
In Sight Science Goals -
 
  • The InSight mission seeks to uncover how a rocky body forms and evolves to become a planet by investigating the interior structure and composition of Mars.
  • The mission will also determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts.
Source
The Hindu, NASA




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 27th Nov 2018
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