NASA to launch InSight to mars on May 5th

[Eduard the weeb]

Original article from the Verge - https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/3/17304842/nasa-insight-mission-mars-lander-quakes-seismology

 

 

So on Saturday ( in the US atleast ) NASA plans to launch it InSight space craft to Mars, unlike previous rovers this new machine will not be studying whats on the ground but whats under it 

 

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On Saturday, NASA is launching its latest Mars explorer — a robot that will sit on the surface of the Red Planet and measure the world as it wobbles. This mission, InSight, is different from previous Mars vehicles, which studied the planet’s surface. Instead, InSight will be helping scientists to peer underneath the crust, to learn more about Mars’ insides, and that could tell us a whole lot about how this planet was born.

 

The " Lander " will be searching for Mars quakes, Mars equivalent to a Earth quake 

 

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InSight is a lander, not a rover; once it touches down on Mars, it will stay put for the rest of its lifetime on the planet. From this stationary post, InSight will detect what are known as marsquakes. Like earthquakes, they’re rumblings in the planet’s crust — but they aren’t caused by the same forces. Earthquakes are often the result of our planet’s tectonic plates slipping past each other on the surface. Marsquakes are thought to happen when the planet cools and contracts, causing the crust to crinkle slightly.

 

Analyzing these Mars shakes can tell scientists what makes up the planet — the kinds of rocks that linger inside and how they’re layered. That’s crucial for understanding how Mars came to be. Earth has been churning and reshaping itself for billions of years, but Mars’ structure has stayed relatively constant. Scientists believe that soon after Mars formed, its development stopped. So figuring out the current layout of Mars’ insides means understanding what the planet’s interior look liked in its youth. “We believe that when we go to Mars, we’ll be able to use Mars as a window into the past,” William “Bruce” Banerdt, the principal investigator for the InSight mission, tells The Verge.

 

This lander is a redo of the Viking which NASA launched in the 70's however the device wasn't sensitive enough pick up these Mars-quakes and could only pick up the wind blowing on Mars, contrary this new device is so sensitive it can only pick up signals in a complete vacuum.  

 

Launch info

It will be on a Atlas V rocket, it is set to launch on 7:05 ET from Vandenburg Airforce base, then it will travel 6 and 1/2 months to Mars and should arrive on November 26th 

[TVwazhere]

1 hour ago, Eduard the weeb said:

“We believe that when we go to Mars, we’ll be able to use Mars as a window into the past,”