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WhenNASA ’s InSight mission arrive at Mars on Monday ( Nov. 26 ) , the investigation faces a formidable challenge — perhaps the most torturing so far of its seven - month journey — touching down on the major planet ’s surface .
Any given moment in the appendage of launching a spacecraft and prompt it toward a distant target in oursolar systemcarries risks . But InSight ’s declension will be an especially nerve - wrack nail - biter for NASA : Mission control wo n’t have any thought what ’s happening to the ballistic capsule in real time , due to the minutes - long delay in the craft ’s transmittal sign .
As InSight enters Mars’s atmosphere, it will be traveling at around 12,300 mph, generating a tremendous amount of heat.
During the critical moment after InSight breaches Mars ' atm and hurtles toward the major planet ’s surface , news show of the lander ’s progress wo n’t yet have reached Earth . For 6 long minutes , NASA engineers will tensely expect for InSight ’s status account to catch up , leaving the team unable to reassert if InSight shoot down safely or if something unexpected went horribly ill-timed . The latter could provide the lander " dead " on the Martian surface . [ 5 Mars Myths and Misconceptions ]
There are three stage thatInSight(short for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations , Geodesy and Heat Transport ) will undergo as it zooms toward the landing site : a rocket - power trip through Mars ' upper air ; a parachute descent after ejecting the lander ’s protective heat energy shield ; and a powered descent to the ground , slow by 12 firing railway locomotive , harmonise toNASA . First , the " cruise stage " will separate and the capsule will shift itself so its heat shield faces the atm , where the shield will wake up to more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit ( 1,000 degrees Celsius ) , Rob Manning , a organisation railroad engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) , saidin a video .
Once InSight descends to about 10 miles ( 16 kilometers ) above the surface , a chute will open , the hotness shield will pour down off , and the lander ’s three legs will exsert and lock in place , ready to take up some of the landing impact . When the lander has approximately 1 mile ( 2 kilometer ) to go , it will separate from the back shell — the complex body part holding the parachute — and fire locomotive engine toslow its downfall , Manning said .
An illustration shows a simulated view of NASA’s InSight lander firing retrorockets to slow down as it descends toward the surface of Mars.
Finally , InSight ’s battery of engines will have to power off the second that the lander bear on down .
" If they do n’t , the fomite will bung over , " man allege in the video .
The drama will kick off at approximately 3 p.m. ET , when the spacecraft is expected to reach Mars ' atm , traveling at approximately 12,300 miles per hour ( 5.5 kilometer / s ) , according toNASA .
Curiosity’s terrifying descent
NASA ’s last thicket with a blind landing on Mars was Curiosity ’s famed " 7Minutes of Terror " — a bloodline that lasted 1 minute longer than InSight ’s will — on Aug. 6 , 2012 . Footage conquer inside the NASA JPL mission ascendence elbow room and shared toYouTubethat day , show squad member transfix as information from Curiosity finally reveal the rover ’s fate , mo by import .
In the telecasting , action cuts back and forth between mission control ’s substantial - clock time responses to update and ananimated simulationof Curiosity ’s landing place , created several month earlier .
Applause break out as the team learned that Curiosity ’s parachute had deployed , and there were high - five when the heat shield separated and unload away . hoi polloi jolly up at the declaration that " We are in powered flight , " and at " Touchdown confirmed ! " the room break in idle hand clapping , jubilant screaming , hugs and more than a few tears .
Reaching Marsis an problematic dirty money for space government agency worldwide ; only 40 percent of all missions to Mars have been successful , and the U.S. is the only Carry Nation whose landers have survive their blood , NASAsaid .
Much of InSight ’s design , include its three - legged shape , grow with NASA’sPhoenix spacecraft , which landed on Mars on May 25 , 2008 . But InSight ’s heat buckler is thicker and its parachute suspension is stronger than its predecessor ’s . As InSight will land during fall in Mars ' northern cerebral hemisphere , this craft may face powerful dust storms , which the upgrade to the heat shield and parachute will facilitate InSight to weather , according to NASA .
But will all these precaution be enough to safeguard InSight ’s imminent landing ? Only time — 6 minutes , to be exact — will tell .
Tune in to view InSight ’s spectacular descent ! alive insurance coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET , jibe our baby situation , Space.com , for hints onhow to watch .
Originally publishedonLive Science .
