Gadgetory

tonight after years of will they won't they nasa is finally getting to know Mars on a deeper level with the insight mission what isn't us are going to discover when it drills beneath the Martian surface how will it measure marsquakes and if NASA's relationship with Mars was kind of like a 90s rom-com which planet would be the mean cheerleader my money's on Jupiter I'm Claire Riley welcome to watch this space from the CNET Studios here in Sydney this is your weekly guide to everything on earth you need to know about space and tonight the insight mission is landing on Mars NASA is about to get its groove back on the red planet and just like the 1998 romantic comedy starring Angela Bassett and the sassy Whoopi Goldberg things are about to get surprisingly intimate in the sand landing on November 26 insight will drill beneath the Martian surface to learn more about Mars quakes the planets core and its orbit around the Sun insight is short for interior exploration using seismic investigations geodesy and heat transport boy howdy NASA loves a backronym how do they even come up with these names anyway what do you mean we can't do any seismic investigation Gavin gave us the acronym we're just gonna have to invent the science well this is the bus mission all over again previous missions to Mars have focused on robotic exploration of the planet's surface like opportunity which has been roaming the planet since 2004 or curiosity which has been getting lost in sandstorms and sending back the loneliest selfies this side of the solar system we're a bit worried about him but within sight NASA is going to drill down and learn more about the interior of the red planet to get to know it on a deeper more intimate level because this is not superficial it cares about what's on the inside here to explain that questionable analogy is watch this space relationship correspondent and loose bachelorette dating game amalgam Courtney Rose I feel like until now nASA has really been she's all that in Mars you know like judging the planet on its surface layers but with inside it feels like NASA is gonna take off Martha's ugly glasses and it's dagi clothes and find the cool babe planet underneath you know with a drill oh my ideal inside date Wow I guess it would be dinner and dancing and using insights to medium gain antennas and expand radio transponder to measure Doppler shift and ultimately learn the composition of Mars's core oh and and margaritas at sunset thanks Courtney but let me break it down with fewer references to the admittedly great film she's all that the insight Lander has three primary science goals to measure the planet's heat flow track seismic activity and measure how Mars wobbles in orbit to learn more about the very interior of the planet to do that insight is packed with three main instruments to conduct experiments first up is the heat flow and physical properties probe or hp3 this will act like a thermometer borrowing almost sixteen feet or five meters below the Martian surface deeper than any probe has ever gone on Mars like that scene from the matrix but for science then there's the insight seismometer a dome-shaped instrument which will sit on the Martian surface and measure seismic vibrations underground including Mars quakes kinda like that terrifying scene in Jurassic Park but for science and then there are the radio science antennas these instruments will receive signals from earth and then bounce them back kind of like a mirror even though Mars is millions of miles away nASA says these signals will help scientists track the location of the lander down to a couple of centimeters and by comparing these positions of the life of the mission they'll help us determine whether Mars wobbles on its orbit around the Sun from that we can learn where the Mars has a solid or liquid core kinda like when you rolled a boiled egg and an unbiased a bench in science class but for actual science alongside these instruments insight also has a bunch of other gear on board including cameras temperature and wind sensors and a communications antenna that will relay messages back to earth via two orbiters flying around Mars and don't forget the giant robot arm that will help move all the instruments onto the Martian surface the insight mission blasted off in May 2018 with two briefcase sized cube sets tagging along for the ride ready to do their own experiments because so help me NASA is not making two trips it'll take a few weeks before insite starts collecting heat and seismic data mostly because NASA has to be really picky about how and where the instruments will be positioned from there it will conduct experiments over a little less than two years bringing in fascinating data over a mission expected to last a total of 709 Souls no one knows for sure what the next two years will bring but we do know one thing NASA and Mars are officially going steady alright that's it for this week's edition of watch this space as always if you've enjoyed the show then make sure you click the like button on your remote and subscribe to get more space news as it happens and of course if you've got a favorite space topic that you want us to cover hit me up in the comments I'm Claire I like to CNET goodnight and Godspeed we need more Whoopi Goldberg in films in general binary Universal telescope transport system who would who would call a mission the butts mission I mean it makes sense to be honest I would definitely watch a Bachelorette show if it was the planets of the solar system I would watch that I mean the thing was we knew the whole time that it was the same girl she's always being hot it's a really problematic film I don't know do like Freddie Prinze jr. though it's pretty cool