NASA's InSight mission will drill deeper into Mars than ever before | Watch This Space
NASA's InSight mission will drill deeper into Mars than ever before | Watch This Space
2018-11-23
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
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