InSight

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InSight

InSight on Mars (artist's impression)
NSSDC ID 2018-042A
Mission goal Mars , Elysium Planitia
Client National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA NASA DLR CNES
German Aerospace CenterDLR 
Center national d'études spatialesCNES 
Launcher Atlas 5 (401)
construction
Takeoff mass 694 kg
Instruments

SEIS, HP3, RISE

Course of the mission
Start date May 5, 2018, 11:05 UTC
launch pad VAFB , SLC-3E
End date 2020 (planned)
 
 5th May 2018 begin
 
 November 26, 2018 landing
 
 2020 End of mission

InSight ( In TERIOR exploration using S eismic I nvestigations, G eodesy and H eat T ransport) is a Mars mission in the Discovery program of NASA . The launch was on May 5, 2018 at 11:05 UTC and on November 26, 2018 at 19:52:59 UTC, the stationary lander was deposited on the surface of Mars, making it active since 626 Sol . The lander is equipped with a seismometer and a heat flow probe. Their measurements are intended to research the early geological development of Mars and thus improve the understanding of the formation of the Earth-like planets of the solar system ( Mercury , Venus , Earth , Mars) and the Earth 's moon . NASA estimates the cost of this mission at 425 million US dollars . The InSight-Lander is based on the technology and essential components of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander .

planning

In May 2014, NASA announced the construction of the lander to the public.

To save money, the American developers used the experience of the Phoenix Mars probe , which had successfully landed on Mars in 2008. Insight is considered an identical twin of Phoenix. At the same time, Insight is NASA's first research probe to be equipped exclusively with European instruments. Because InSight is equipped with a photovoltaic system as an energy source, the landing was carried out near the equator so that a projected lifespan of two years (equivalent to a Martian year) is possible.

First light on the surface of Mars
PIA22829 InSight's First Image from Mars.jpg
Instrument Context Camera (ICC) with dust particles on the dust cover in front of the camera lens.
PIA22575 IDC Camera First Image.jpg
Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) shows the housing of the seismometer on the lander on the left.


aims

InSight has placed a single stationary lander in the Elysium region on Mars to investigate deeper rock layers and thereby contribute to the clarification of fundamental issues in planetary and solar system sciences about the processes that affect the rock planets of the inner solar system (including the earth) formed more than five billion years ago. These planets share a common ancestry that began with a process called accretion . As the rock grows in size, the inside heats up and changes to become an Earth-like planet with a core, mantle and crust. In contrast to this common origin, each earth-like planet was later formed and shaped by a process called differentiation , which was still little understood .

InSight's primary goal is to study the earliest evolutionary processes that formed Mars. By examining the size, thickness, density, and general structure of the planet's core , mantle, and crust, as well as the degree to which heat leaves the interior of the planet, as well as whether there is seismic activity and whether the core is liquid or solid.

A secondary goal is to carry out a thorough geophysical investigation of the tectonic activities and meteorite impacts on Mars, which should provide information about such processes on Earth.

Mars is particularly well suited for such investigations because it is large enough to have gone through these typical earliest accretation processes, but small enough to show clear traces of it.

Payload and instruments

DLR ramming probe HP 3
Test: The protective cover of the seismometer SEIS is placed on the ground by the InSight robotic arm.
schematic representation of the placed seismometer (section).

InSight's Scientific Payload consists of two main instruments:

  • The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) is designed to take precise measurements of seismic and other internal activities of Mars in order to better understand planetary history and structure. SEIS was produced by the French Space Agency (CNES), with the participation of the Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Imperial College , Institute Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE) and JPL .
  • The Heat-Flow-and-Physical-Properties-Package -Instrument (HP 3 ), developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), is an experiment to determine the heat flow in the Mars sediment. It has a 40 centimeter long and around three centimeter thick ram probe built by the industrial partner Astronika in Warsaw , which is to work its way into the ground step by step to a planned depth of five meters. A tape on which the smallest temperature sensors are distributed is attached to the ram head. After every 50 centimeters of penetration depth, the hammer advance should be stopped and a preset heating power should be called up. The sensors then measure the heating of the drill head and the rate at which the heat propagates (thermal conductivity), which allows conclusions to be drawn about the physical properties of the soil material. The HP 3 , the nicknamed "the Tractor Mole" ( Tractor Mole carries), to go deeper than any previous instruments in the Martian soil with it and suggest about the determination of the heat loss to the thermal history of the planet.

Further investigations: In addition, the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) should use the space probe's communication system to precisely determine the planetary rotation and thus find out details about the planetary structure.

A color camera is attached to the arm of the lander, which is used to take photos of the instruments on the lander deck and to provide a 3-D view of the ground where the seismometer and heat flow probe will be placed. It should help the engineers and scientists to set the instruments on the Martian soil. The camera will also allow panoramic views of the area around the landing site with its 45-degree field of view. Another color camera with a wide-angle lens with a 120-degree field of view is mounted under the edge of the lander deck. It should complement the other camera with its recordings of the instrument placement area.

Secondary payloads

For the first time, the probe carried two interplanetary miniature satellites, so-called Cubesats , under the name Mars Cube One (MarCO) as a piggyback load , which supported communication during the landing. Both cubesats served as relays and transmitted landing data directly to earth, including the first photo of the mission. The landing was also recorded by the orbiter Mars Odyssey , but this data could not be sent to Earth until later.

Team and participation (2011)

The InSight team consists of scientists and engineers from many disciplines, from many countries and organizations, including Japie van Zyl . At the end of 2011, the scientists came from the USA, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Bruce Banerdt , MER Mission Project Scientist , was the Project Leader for the InSight Mission and the Principal Scientist for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument. Suzanne Smrekar was responsible for the HP3 instrument (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package) in 2011. Her research task focused on the thermal evolution of the planet; she had already been responsible for the development and extensive testing of devices for measuring thermal properties and heat flows on other planets.

Sami Asmar, an expert in focal studies with radio waves, was the head of the RISE investigation (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment) at the end of 2011. The InSight team also included project manager Tom Hoffman and deputy project manager Henry Stone.

Mission history

Animation of the drilling process in October 2019

The launch on an Atlas V rocket was planned for March 2016. On December 22, 2015, the start was postponed due to a leak in the SEIS seismometer, which could not be fixed by the start date. On March 9, 2016, NASA announced that it would use the next launch window in May 2018. The launch was on May 5, 2018 and the lander touched down on Mars as scheduled on November 26, 2018. On December 19, the seismometer (SEIS) was placed on the floor of Mars. On April 6, 2019, the first record of a Mars quake was probably recorded .

The HP3 experiment went into operation in February 2019. After just a few days, the piling probe got stuck at a depth of around 30 centimeters. The friction between the probe and the Martian soil was less than expected, which hindered its progress. To diagnose the problem, the housing of HP3 with the robot arm was lifted off the mole and set down again near the lander. The now uncovered mole was pressed sideways against the borehole with the arm in October 2019 in order to generate the necessary friction. In several runs of hammer blows, the device was able to penetrate two centimeters further into the surface of Mars. As soon as the mole has penetrated below the surface with lateral support, it is planned to load the Martian surface above the borehole with the shovel on the robot arm in order to increase the pressure and thus the friction in the upper soil layers.

Landing site

The landing site in the Elysium region is on the western side of an almost circular depression about 27 m in diameter, which was called "Homestead hollow". The surface is

"Smooth, sandy, granule- and pebble-rich"

"Soft, sandy, rich in grains and pebbles"

- M. Golombek, ...

It is believed that it is a largely leveled impact crater . About ten other craters with a diameter of 1 m to 10 m are within 20 m of the lander. The brake rockets created three depressions up to about 10 cm deep. In one depression, pebbles and larger debris became visible and two depressions had steep side edges, consisting of Duricrust (rock-like solidified mixture of small stones and pebbles in a fine-grained matrix).

Web links

Commons : InSight  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016 , Washington Post, By Brian Vastag, Monday, August 20.
  2. ↑ NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission. NASA, March 9, 2016, accessed February 14, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Nasa now also wants to research the core of Mars. Die Welt, August 22, 2012, accessed October 4, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Guy Webster, Dwayne Brown, Gary Napier: Construction to Begin on 2016 NASA Mars Lander. In: NASA . May 19, 2014, accessed May 20, 2014 .
  5. ↑ a b Thomas Bührke: Berlin mole digs into the Martian soil . In: Berliner Zeitung , May 3, 2018, p. 17.
  6. ^ NASA-New Insight on Mars Expected From new NASA Mission. August 20, 2012, accessed October 4, 2012 .
  7. ↑ a b c InSight - Mission Overview. NASA JPL, 2012, archived from the original on June 16, 2012 ; accessed on August 22, 2012 (English).
  8. ^ InSight: Science. In: Mission website. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, archived from the original on March 3, 2012 ; Retrieved December 2, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Ken Kremer: NASA's Proposed 'InSight' Lander would peer to the Center of Mars in 2016. In: Universe Today. March 2, 2012, accessed March 27, 2012 .
  10. ↑ Matthew Francis: New probe to provide InSight into Mars' interior. Ars Technica, August 21, 2012, accessed August 21, 2012 .
  11. ↑ Ph. Lognonné et al: The GEMS (GEophysical Monitoring Station) SEISmometer. (PDF; 6.5 MB) 2011, accessed on October 4, 2012 (English).
  12. ^ P. Labrot: The SEIS Instrument: Ultrasensitive and ultra-robust. Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP), accessed on February 6, 2019 .
  13. ^ Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3). DLR Institute of Planetary Research, accessed on January 12, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b The heat flow probe HP 3 . DLR, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Mars Exploration Program New Insight on Mars Expected From New NASA mission. NASA JPL, 2012, accessed August 23, 2012 .
  16. ↑ M. Grott et al: Measuring Heat Flow on Mars: The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package on GEMS. (PDF of 1.6 MB) 2011, accessed on October 4, 2012 (English).
  17. ↑ WM Folkner et al: The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) for the InSight mission to Mars. (PDF of 90 kB) 2012, accessed on October 4, 2012 (English).
  18. ^ InSight - Technology. NASA JPL, 2012, archived from the original on August 23, 2012 ; accessed on August 20, 2012 .
  19. ^ InSight mission to find what lies beneath Martian surface. Spaceflight now, March 30, 2013, accessed April 3, 2012 .
  20. ^ NASA Prepares for First Interplanetary CubeSats on Agency's Next Mission to Mars. NASA, June 12, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016 .
  21. ↑ a b InSight: People. NASA JPL, archived from the original on March 3, 2012 ; accessed on December 2, 2011 .
  22. ^ JPL Science: People - Bruce Banerdt. NASA JPL, accessed October 4, 2012 .
  23. ^ JPL Sciences: People - Suzanne Smrekar. NASA JPL, accessed December 2, 2011 .
  24. ↑ NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission. NASA, March 9, 2016, accessed February 14, 2018 .
  25. ^ InSight Deploys First Instrument onto Martian Surface. sci-news, accessed December 20, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Stephen Clark: InSight lander detects first likely 'quake' on Mars. In: Spaceflight Now. April 28, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019 .
  27. ^ Jeff Foust: Troubleshooting of Mars InSight instrument continues. In: Spacenews. May 15, 2019, accessed May 16, 2019 .
  28. ^ Tilman Spohn: The InSight Log. In: DLR Blogs. October 18, 2019, accessed October 18, 2019 .
  29. ↑ a b M. Golombek, NH Warner, JA Grant, E. Hauber, V. Ansan: Geology of the InSight landing site on Mars . In: Nature Communications . tape 11 , no. 1 , February 24, 2020, ISSN  2041-1723 , p. 1–11 , doi : 10.1038 / s41467-020-14679-1 , PMID 32094337 , PMC 7039939 (free full text) - ( nature.com [accessed June 4, 2020]).