MarsLander
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Hear the wind on Mars for the first time, thanks to the InSight lander
Since landing on Mars last week, NASA's InSight lander has been taking pictures of itself and its surroundings as it prepares to unload the scientific instruments it brought along to the planet. But the lander has also picked up something that other Mars missions never have -- audio of the planet's winds. "Capturing this audio was an unplanned treat," Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator, said in a statement. "But one of the things our mission is dedicated to is measuring motion on Mars, and naturally that includes motion caused by sound waves."
NASA’s InSight lander is ready to get to work
NASA's InSight lander arrived on Mars last week and now it's prepping for the next stage of its mission. The lander is equipped with a nearly six-foot-long arm, which will be used to lift sensitive scientific instruments off of the lander and place them on the Martian surface -- the first time a robot has been used to do so on another planet. Thus, the arm plays a really key role in this next step of the InSight mission, as placement will be crucial for the mission's overall success. But new images from InSight show the lander is up for the challenge, as the arm is working and has already started to collect images of its surroundings, information that scientists will use to determine where InSight's instruments should be placed.
The Mars InSight lander is on track to launch in May
The InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander has passed its last major environmental test ahead of a planned May 2018 launch to Mars. The thermal vacuum testing, or TVAC, lasted two weeks and simulates the harsh, stressful environment of space. "With InSight coming out of TVAC, the team has successfully completed the environmental testing phase and will now be finalizing launch preparations over the coming months," Scott Daniels, the InSight assembly, test and launch operations manager, told Space.com, which reported the news.
Mars Orbiter gets ready for InSight Lander's touchdown
NASA's InSight Lander won't be reaching the red planet until 2016, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is already preparing for its welcome party. In order to make sure that it's at the right place to be able to receive radio transmissions from InSight during the landing process, the MRO is firing six intermediate-sized thrusters (it has one set of bigger and another set of smaller ones) for 77 seconds today, July 29th. Those thrusters are capable of producing five pounds of thrust each, and firing them will adjust the spracecraft's orbit timing from crossing the equator every 3PM local solar time to 2:30PM. The last time the MRO performed a maneuver of this magnitude was in 2006, and the next instances are scheduled to happen in 2016 and 2017 to return it to its original orbit timing.
Mars Phoenix lander goes silent, NASA ends mission
The inevitable has happened. Our friend, the loved and loving Mars Phoenix lander has gone quietly into that long, good night once and for all. Even though we joyfully joined the lander on its adventures as it Tweeted from beyond the stratosphere, and thrilled at its explorations, pitfalls, and pratfalls, try not to feel the familiar sting of humanity at the thought of our little robotic buddy facing that call to interminable sleep we all must answer one day. Let's rest easy knowing that the NASA-spawned craft served dutifully and fearlessly right up to the end, when it was overpowered by a horde of space zombies and turned into an undead killing machine. We'll miss you, pal.
Anthropomorphized Mars lander in terminal "Groundhog Day" mode, tugging heartstrings
Dear Phoenix lander, you always find new ways to both delight and torture us. We listened anxiously for your updates about the weather on Mars, watched you "think" your way out of nearly fatal situations, and marveled at your liquid discoveries. It seems like only yesterday we were preparing for your send off. And what new violence is this you're doing upon our souls? Oh, that's right: you're dying. Not shutting down. Dying. Not quickly, either. And you're going to suffer from what is essentially a NASA-induced nightmare terminal case of Alzheimer's now, too. As early as tonight, the NASA team will upload repeating commands designed to "wring a few additional weather measurements" out of Phoenix by placing it in "terminal science mode," meaning that the lander will repeat the same sequence of actions over and over again, every day before shutting down for 19 hours. The team has also discovered that the craft is now unable to fully recharge its batteries, causing it to lose its memory each night when it shuts down. So the lander wakes up in the morning, does some science, goes to sleep, wakes up again, doesn't remember a thing, does some science... oh, you get the idea. The Phoenix team doesn't know how much longer the lander is going to survive, but they indicated that it could be "several weeks." Please, just let the pain end. Hit the read link for the long, sad story.
SpaceX slated to transport cargo and crew on Falcon 9
If that homebrew rocket you've been building in your backyard isn't working out, maybe SpaceX will have some room for you on one of its many upcoming Falcon 9 missions. Now that the F1 has successfully achieved orbit, the F9 is slated for launch in Q1 2009. As you may recall, the aptly named Falcon 9 has nine engines rather than one, as with the F1. These redundancies were inspired by the Apollo's Saturn V and Saturn I rockets, noted for their flawless flight records despite engine failures. If all goes well, the launch will be followed by three more, including one with a crew and an F9 "Heavy" -- handy if you've got 25,300 lbs of marbles or whatever to haul up to the International Space Station. If you plan on hitching a ride, get your job applications in now -- only valued employees are scheduled to be passengers at this time. Got a more exotic destination in mind? Next up Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has his sights set on building a "Mars lander of some kind."[Via Wired]
