NASA Insight 2016 mission (updates)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

33 minutes ago, patseguin said:

Very well taken. I just thought that at the very least, a low resolution video of the landing would be possible. What kind of bandwidth do they have across that distance of space? Is it like a 2400 baud modem?

During the EDL (entry, descent and landing) we were getting 1.60 kb/sec downlink at approx -148 dbm...a weak signal but pretty good for the distance, approx 8 minute delay, 16 minute round trip.

 

NASA and DARPA are working on the laser communications for the next major upgrade...we are using a prototype on the ISS and a few of the spacecraft as well.

 

I have attached a few screen shots from the DSN network (deep space network).

 

 

 

 

The website for 24 hour monitoring is here...

https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

 

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While I am here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

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An image of Mars from MarCO. A historic day for CubeSats. A lot can be done with a spacecraft the size of a suitcase.

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1067181932377710592

 

 

 

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[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

Could not have said it better.

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[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

just had to post this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News conference over.

[Beittil]

Don't MAVEN and ESAs TGO have comms capability? Those are both still toddlers compared to some of the others birds in Mars orbit 😛

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Mars Odyssey is just cranking out data right now...

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Good article on Wall-E and EVE...

 

MarCO success vindicates use of cubesats on deep space missions

 

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PASADENA, Calif. — The success a pair of cubesats achieved in relaying telemetry from NASA’s InSight Mars lander demonstrates that such spacecraft can play increasing roles in future deep space missions, spacecraft designers believe.

 

The twin Mars Cube One, or MarCO, cubesats launched as secondary payloads with the InSight spacecraft in May and flew by Mars as InSight landed on the planet. The cubesats, intended primarily as technology demonstrations, were designed to provide a realtime relay of telemetry from InSight during landing, without which it would have been hours before controllers knew if the spacecraft had landed successfully.

 

Although NASA emphasized the experimental nature of the cubesats prior to the landing, the MarCO spacecraft performed as intended, receiving the UHF telemetry from InSight during its entry, descent and landing phase and rebroadcasting it at X-band frequencies received by NASA’s Deep Space Network.

 

“MarCO was there to relay information back from InSight in real time, and we did that extraordinarily well,” said Andy Klesh, MarCO chief engineer, at a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here Nov. 26 two hours after the InSight landing. “We had no dropped frames, no dropped data along the way.”

 

In addition to the InSight telemetry, one of the cubesats, MarCO-B, returned an image of Mars taken shortly after the landing, as the spacecraft was passing 6,000 kilometers from the planet. “We had one more gift that we could give,” Klesh said to applause from the audience in the press conference auditorium as he revealed the image.

 

“This image is really our farewell to InSight, our wish for good luck and our farewell to Mars itself.”

 

The MarCO primary mission will last about two more weeks, he said. The two spacecraft will return other data collected during the flying, including telemetry about the health of the cubesats themselves and potentially other images of Mars taken during close approach.

 

The MarCO-A cubesat also indirectly performed science during the flyby as its radio signals were occluded by the planet as it passed behind Mars. Measurement of the changes in signal as it passed through the planet’s atmosphere just before and after being blocked by the planet itself could provide information about atmospheric conditions. “With that, we’re actually doing atmospheric science as we’re passing by Mars, and we’ll be digging through that data as well,” Klesh said.

more at the link...

https://spacenews.com/marco-success-vindicates-use-of-cubesats-on-deep-space-missions/

 

 

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Until the lens covers are off...a few enhancements

 

I think Blackstar from NSF did this...

 

ooops, wrong one

 

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Thanks to @JPMajor for processing the first clear images of #Mars from the #InSightLanding today! #marslanding #NASASocial

https://twitter.com/AntonioParis/status/1067226128241188865

 

 

 

I believe that  eeergo from NSF added the extras...

 

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27717.680

 

 

still waiting for solar array unfurl....

 

😎

Edited November 27, 2018 by Draggendrop

[Draggendrop Veteran]

just caught this...neat...

 

Mission Control Live: NASA InSight Mars Landing (360 video)

 

use your mouse...

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

the delay must be for data analysis.....the DSN is presently quiet.

 

If they don't have the data now (lots of DSN activity prior though)...will have to wait several hours for confirmation.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

That is one amazing image...this is Mars...today.

 

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Mars family of toys...

 

 

for a much larger image to which one can move around and zoom....

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/charts/the-mars-exploration-family-portrait.html

[Draggendrop Veteran]

some confusion about the last image... so...

 

 

 

That image is stunning....

 

as for the arrays....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Draggendrop

[Draggendrop Veteran]

One more look at this work of art while we wait for confirmation of solar array deployment.

 

 

just in...

 

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Data from Odyssey indicate @NASAInSight’s solar arrays are open and batteries are charging. The transmission also included this view from the instrument deployment camera, showing the seismometer (left), grapple (center) and robotic arm (right): https://go.nasa.gov/2KywPRq

https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/1067255524335345665

 

JPL reposted the tweet and messed up the prior links...new one here

 

 

 

 

NASA JPL

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Draggendrop
mess of broken links

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

break time....that image though...it's a statement of... "This is what we do!"

[Unobscured Vision]

Looks great! Thanks for your efforts today, @Draggendrop!

[Draggendrop Veteran]

1 minute ago, Unobscured Vision said:

Looks great! Thanks for your efforts today, @Draggendrop!

I knew you would be watching when caught up with your studies.....that image is WOW.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

just in...it's real....j/k

 

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Another new @NASAInsight image has arrived. Looks like @ElonMusk just can't fight the urge to photobomb @NASA droids - even on #Mars. #MarsLanding

 

https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1067259740366012426

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

here is some extra's on the Marco image...

 

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Here's everything with labels - hopefully my landmarks are correct

https://twitter.com/jccwrt/status/1067255737620078592

 

 

and 

 

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Here's a version with the fisheye effect removed

https://twitter.com/jccwrt/status/1067259455497220097

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I gave an incorrect image author...redo here...

 

 

 

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Thought this was funny...but at least the mission made it to newspapers and media outlets...

 

 

 

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[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Bwahaha ... in "attack mode" ... hehe!

[Draggendrop Veteran]

InSight's First View of Mars with the Cover Off

 

 

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November 30, 2018

 

NASA’s InSight spacecraft flipped open the lens cover on its Instrument Context Camera (ICC) on Nov. 30, 2018, and captured this view of Mars. Located below the deck of the InSight lander, the ICC has a fisheye view, creating a curved horizon. Some clumps of dust are still visible on the camera’s lens. One of the spacecraft’s footpads can be seen in the lower right corner. The seismometer’s tether box is in the upper left corner.

 

JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

 

A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES, and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), provided the SEIS instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the HP3 instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/22180/insights-first-view-of-mars-with-the-cover-off/

 

 

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Insight twitter account

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My name made it to Mars.....way too cool...Though I would rather be there in person...😎

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

 

Great images for download...

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/multimedia/raw-images/?order=sol+desc%2Cdate_taken+desc&per_page=50&page=0&mission=insight

 

raw images and video are also available at the link.

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]