NASA's Next Mars Lander Spreads its Solar Wings
The robotic lander deployed its solar panels for the last time before it reaches Mars later this year.
NASA's next mission to Mars passed a key test Tuesday, extending
the solar arrays that will power the InSight spacecraft once it lands on the
Red Planet this November.The test took place at Lockheed Martin Space just outside of
Denver, where InSight was built and has been undergoing testing ahead of its
launch. The mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California."This is the last time we will see the spacecraft in
landed configuration before it arrives at the Red Planet," said Scott
Daniels, Lockheed Martin InSight Assembly, Test and Launch Operations (ATLO)
Manager. "There are still many steps we have to take before launch, but
this is a critical milestone before shipping to Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California." The InSight launch window opens in May.The fan-like solar panels are specially designed for Mars'
weak sunlight, caused by the planet's distance from the Sun and its dusty, thin
atmosphere. The panels will power InSight for at least one Martian year (two
Earth years) for the first mission dedicated to studying Mars' deep interior.
InSight's full name is Interior Exploration
using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport."Think of InSight as Mars' first health checkup in more
than 4.5 billion years," said Bruce Banerdt of JPL, the mission's principal
investigator. "We'll study its pulse by 'listening' for marsquakes with a
seismometer. We'll take its temperature with a heat probe. And we'll check its
reflexes with a radio experiment."In addition to the solar panel test, engineers added a final
touch: a microchip inscribed with more than 1.6 million names submitted by the
public. It joins a chip containing almost 827,000 names that was glued to the
top of InSight back in 2015, adding up to a total of about 2.4 million names
going to Mars. "It's a fun way for the public to feel personally invested
in the mission," Banerdt said. "We're happy to have them along for
the ride."The chips were inscribed at
JPL's Microdevices Laboratory, which has added names and images to a number of
spacecraft, including the Mars Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. Each
character on the InSight microchips is just 400 nanometers wide. Compare
that to a human hair, 100,000 nanometers wide, or a red blood cell, 8,000
nanometers wide.For more information on InSight, visit:https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/