Mars Cube One

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Mars Cube One

NSSDC ID MarCO-A: 2018-042B
MarCO-B: 2018-042C
Mission goal Mars
Client National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA NASA
Launcher Atlas V (401) AV-078
construction
Takeoff mass 2 × 13.5 kg
Course of the mission
Start date May 5, 2018, 11:05 UTC
launch pad VAFB SLC-3E
 
 5.5.2018 begin
 
 11/26/2018 (planned) Mars flyby
JPL engineers Joel Steinkraus and Farah Alibay with a full-size model of the Mars Cube One (MarCO)
The two cubesats oversee the landing of Insight (artist's impression).

Mars Cube One or MarCO (MarCO-A and MarCO-B) are two small satellites ( Cubesats ) from NASA . These are the first Cubesats to be used on an interplanetary mission and supported communication with Earth when the Mars probe InSight landed on November 26, 2018.

construction

The two cubesats were built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California . As a technology demonstrator, they were not absolutely necessary for the lander, but they could significantly accelerate the communication that would otherwise be taken over by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) .

Cubesats are standardized extremely small space probes and are assembled from relatively simple, robust technology. The standard unit for the size of a cube is a cube with an edge length of ten centimeters. The design of the MarCOs has a size of six units, when packed they were 36.6 × 24.3 × 11.8 centimeters in size and each weighed around 13.5 kg.

The energy was supplied via two solar panels, each 30 cm × 30 cm. The 42 solar cells initially produced a total of 35 watts, but this value decreased with increasing distance from the sun.

The MarCO probes each have eight engines: four for attitude control, four for course corrections. Two cameras with a resolution of 752 × 480 pixels are installed for image acquisition. One has a fish-eye lens with a field of view of 138 °, the other of 6.8 °.

In addition to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, various companies were involved in the project:

function

During the entry, descent and landing phases, the lander InSight sent information in the UHF band to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , which then sent this on to Earth in the microwave range . Since these operations on two different tapes could not happen at the same time, it would take over an hour for the confirmation of the landing to be transmitted to Earth. The MarCO probes, on the other hand, were able to receive on UHF and transmit in the microwave range ( X-band ) at the same time , so that the data was immediately forwarded to earth at 8 kbit / s.

Mission history

Mars from 6000 km away, captured by MarCO-B after InSight landed.

The launch took place on May 5, 2018 with an Atlas-V missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The first signals from the two probes were received on the same day. On May 9th, MarCo-B took a picture of the earth and moon with the fisheye camera and transmitted it to the earth via the high-gain antenna. While a course correction could be carried out at MarCO-A without any problems, at MarCO-B one encountered problems with a leak on a valve. The influence of the escaping gas could be successfully compensated.

InSight, whose data was forwarded by the MarCO probes, landed on November 26, 2018.

Data from the experimental MarCOs could be received for the last time by December 29, 2018 and January 4, 2019, respectively. No further contacts were expected in February. At most, there would have been another time window for making contact in the summer of 2019.

On August 8, 2019 that gave American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics its Award Small Satellite Mission of the Year Marco.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NASA JPL: Mars InSight Launch Press Kit. (PDF) (No longer available online.) May 2018, p. 13 , formerly in the original ; accessed on July 12, 2018 (English): "Mass of each MarCO spacecraft: 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms)"
  2. ^ NASA Prepares for First Interplanetary CubeSats on Agency's Next Mission to Mars. NASA, June 12, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c NASA JPL: Mars Cube One Demo. Accessed July 12, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c ESA: MarCO (Mars Cube One). Accessed July 12, 2018 .
  5. ↑ NASA JPL: NASA's First Deep-Space CubeSats Say: 'Polo!' May 5, 2018, accessed July 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ NASA JPL: A Pale Blue Dot, As Seen by a CubeSat. May 15, 2018, accessed on July 12, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Beyond Mars, the Mini MarCO Spacecraft Fall Silent on the NASA website on February 5, 2019
  8. ↑ MarCO Wins the 'Oscar' for Tiny Spacecraft on the NASA website on August 9, 2019

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