Professional Pilot, February 2019

Mission updates T he last couple months have been busy ones in planetary exploration Mars InSight successfully landed on Mars and has deployed its seismometer to detect marsquakes OSIRIS REx and Hayabusa2 have reached near Earth asteroids and started making discoveries as they prepare to collect samples for return to Earth New Horizons completed the most distant encounter with an object ever And Change 4 completed the first landing on the far side of the Moon Lets go over each of these and take in pictures that have been returned as part of these amazing feats of space exploration Mars InSight As previewed in the November 2018 issue of Professional Pilot magazine page 74 the NASA InSight lander successfully touched down on Mars on November 26 2018 As with all Mars landings it was a 70 PROFESSIONAL PILOT February 2019 nail biting experience during the final minutes as InSight descended towards the Mars surface In the end all went flawlessly and the spacecraft set down gently on its 3 legs near the equator in the western portion of the volcanic plain Elysium Planitia As hoped for the landing area was quite flat and mostly devoid of rocks This is enabling the lander to deploy its instruments successfully on and in the surface of Mars InSight is the first spacecraft focused on studying Mars deep interior This will help us to not only better understand Mars and its formation and evolution but also the formation and early evolution of all rocky planets During the first weeks after landing and after characterizing its landing environment InSight used its robotic arm to deploy its seismometer onto the surface The seismometer after being leveled with the surface will have a cover placed over it to protect it from the wind and from the extreme thermal changes Mars experiences on a daily basis During InSights 2 Earth year mission the twin 3 axis seismometers will detect marsquakes caused by movement within the interior of Mars and those caused by meteorite impacts Just as we do on Earth seismologists will use that information to learn about the interior of Mars The next instrument to be deployed will be InSights heat probe A percussive drill will pound the probe a few meters into the surface much deeper than we have ever gone into the subsurface of Mars And it will detect the heat flow from the interior giving insights about the planets current nature inside Asteroid explorers As discussed in the December issue of Professional Pilot magazine page 70 2 missions reached their target near Earth asteroids in the last few months the Japanese Hayabusa2 and the US OSIRIS REx mis SPACE EXPLORATION Mars InSight asteroid explorers and Chinas lander on the far side of the Moon have all done well This is NASA InSights first selfie on Mars The landers solar panels and deck are visible On top of the deck are its science instruments weather sensor booms and UHF antenna The selfie was taken on Dec 6 2018 Photo courtesy NASA JPL Caltech InSight seismometer housing shortly after being placed on the surface by the robotic arm By Bruce Betts Chief Scientist and LightSail Program Manager The Planetary Society