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Probing Mars

November of 2018 promises to bring far more than just the start of the Christmas season.

On November 26, NASA’s  InSight spacecraft is expected to touchdown on the Elysium Planitia section of Mars (sometimes called the planet’s “biggest parking lot”) for an unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet. “InSight” is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.

According to NASA, the Mars lander 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.”

The InSight Mars lander has two key science objectives:

Formation & Evolution: Understand the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets through investigation of the interior structure and processes of Mars.

Tectonic Activity: Determine the present level of tectonic activity and meteorite impact rate on Mars.

Past Mars missions have investigated the surface history of the Red Planet by examining features like canyons, volcanoes, rocks and soil. However, signatures of the planet’s formation can only be found by sensing and studying its “vital signs” far below the surface. NASA notes that The mission can open a window into the “inner space” of Mars, because Its instruments peer deeper than ever into the Martian subsurface, seeking the signatures of the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner Solar System, more than four billion years ago. InSight’s findings are expected to shed light on the formation of Mars, Earth, and even rocky exoplanets.

In comparison to the other terrestrial planets, Mars is neither too big nor too small. This means that it preserves the record of its formation and can give us insight into how the terrestrial planets formed. It is the perfect laboratory from which to study the formation and evolution of rocky planets. Scientists know that Mars has low levels of geological activity. But a lander like InSight can also reveal just how active Mars really is.
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The mission’s interplanetary journey began last May, when an Atlas V-401 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The mission is expected to last for about 728 Earth days.

According to the U.S. space agency, “InSight will teach us about the interior of planets like our own. The mission team hopes that by studying the deep interior of Mars, we can learn how other rocky worlds, including Earth and the Moon, formed. Our home planet and Mars were molded from the same primordial stuff more than 4.5 billion years ago but then became quite different. Why didn’t they share the same fate? When it comes to rocky planets, we’ve only studied one in detail: Earth. By comparing Earth’s interior to that of Mars, InSight’s team members hope to better understand our solar system. What they learn might even aid the search for Earth-like exoplanets, narrowing down which ones might be able to support life. So while InSight is a Mars mission, it’s also much more than a Mars mission.”

The Atlas rocket that started InSight’s journey 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.

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.

Several European space agencies, including France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package instrument, with significant contributions from the Polish Space Agency (CBK) and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología supplied the wind sensors.

Illustration:  InSight spacecraft (NASA)

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NASA’s Future

NASA has submitted to Congress a plan to revitalize and add direction to America’s manned space program, after years of neglect under the Obama Administration.

The plan notes that “The call from the President and Congress for a National Space Exploration Campaign emerges at a critical point in America’s space program and its relationship to strategic issues facing the nation in space. Challenges and opportunities exist that must be addressed over the next several years. Close to Earth today, American leadership and commercial innovation, centered in part on the U.S.-led International Space Station, is starting to unleash a new economic arena. However, action is necessary to drive new commercial enterprises and provide a regulatory and security environment that enables and protects this emerging economy. Deeper into space, NASA’s shift to focus on the creation of a sustainable presence on and around the Moon with international and commercial partners comes as more countries begin to establish a presence in this region with robotic missions.”

According to the agency, “The National Space Exploration Campaign calls for human and robotic exploration missions to expand the frontiers of human experience and scientific discovery of the natural phenomena of Earth, other worlds and the cosmos.”

The Exploration Campaign has several strategic goals:

NASA will transition U.S. human spaceflight activities in low-Earth orbit to commercial operations that support NASA and the needs of an emerging private sector market. NASA intends to transition from the current model of human space activities in low-Earth orbit to a model where the government is only one customer for commercial services.  NASA will shape the plan for the transition of low-Earth orbit activities from direct government funding to commercial services and partnerships, with new, independent commercial platforms or a non-NASA operating model for some form or elements of the International Space Station by 2025. In addition, NASA will expand public-private partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and capabilities to enable new commercial space products and services.

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NASA will demonstrate the capabilities required for human missions to Mars and other destinations. NASA will Foster scientific discovery and characterization of lunar resources through a series of robotic missions. the Exploration Campaign focuses on a transformative approach that includes the development of technologies and systems that enable a series of human and robotic lunar missions that are extensible to Mars. Key components of the Exploration Campaign already are underway and include long-duration human spaceflight on the space station, development of advanced life support systems, and continuing to lead and advance the world in deep space science missions.

NASA’s InSight mission now is on its way to Mars and will land in November to study the interior of the Red Planet. Development of NASA’s next rover to Mars continues to make excellent progress and is scheduled to launch in July 2020.

The Mars 2020 rover will aid in the search for past life and demonstrate the production of fuel and other resources that enable human exploration. The mission will also be used as a building block for a subsequent roundtrip robotic mission with the historic first rocket launch off another planet and a sample return. According to NASA, “That mission will serve as a critical precursor to an eventual series of crewed missions to Mars planned to start in the 2030’s and culminating in a surface landing, which will be supported by the work we’ll do on the Moon in the coming years.”

Illustration: NASA