NASA CubeSats Steer Toward Mars
NASA has achieved a first for the class of tiny spacecraft known as CubeSats, which are opening new access to space.
NASA has
achieved a first for the class of tiny spacecraft known as CubeSats, which are
opening new access to space.Over the past
week, two CubeSats called MarCO-A and MarCO-B have been firing their propulsion
systems to guide themselves toward Mars. This process, called a trajectory
correction maneuver, allows a spacecraft to refine its path to Mars following
launch. Both CubeSats successfully completed this maneuver; NASA's InSight
spacecraft justcompleted the same processon May 22.The pair of CubeSats that make
up the Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission both launched on May 5, along with the InSight
lander, which is headed toward a Nov. 26 touchdown on the Red Planet. They were
designed to trail InSight on the way to Mars, aiming to relay back data about InSight
as it enters the planet's atmosphere and attempts to land. The MarCOs were
never intended to collect any science data; instead, they are a test of
miniaturized communication and navigation technology that can blaze a path for
future CubeSats sent to other planets.Both MarCO-A and B successfully
completed a set of communications tests in the past couple of weeks, said John
Baker, program manager for planetary SmallSats at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, California. JPL built both MarCO CubeSats and leads the mission."Our broadest goal was to demonstrate
how low-cost CubeSat technology can be used in deep space for the first
time," Baker said. "With both MarCOs on their way to Mars, we've already
traveled farther than any CubeSat before them."While MarCO-A corrected its
course to Mars relatively smoothly, MarCO-B faced some unexpected challenges. Its
maneuver was smaller due to a leaky thruster valve that engineers have been
monitoring for the past several weeks. The leak creates small trajectory changes on its own. Engineers
have factored in these nudges so that MarCO-B can still perform a trajectory
correction maneuver. It will take several more weeks of tracking to refine
these nudges so that MarCO-B can follow InSight on its cruise through space."We're cautiously
optimistic that MarCO-B can follow MarCO-A," said Joel Krajewski of JPL,
MarCO's project manager. "But we wanted to take more time to understand the
underlying issues before attempting the next course-correction maneuver."Once the MarCO team has analyzed
data, they'll know the size of follow-on maneuvers. Several more course
corrections will be needed to reach the Red Planet.Should the CubeSats make it all
the way to Mars, they will attempt to relay data to Earth about InSight's
landing. InSight won't rely on either CubeSat for that data relay, however;
that job will fall to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.Find more
information about MarCO here:https://go.nasa.gov/marco_launch