First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California

[rooster59]

First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California

By Gene Blevins

 

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas-V rocket is seen with NASA's InSight spacecraft onboard, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S., May 3, 2018. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Picture taken on May 3, 2018. Courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via REUTERS

 

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) - An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA's first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars.

 

The Mars InSight probe lifted off from the central California coast at 4:05 a.m.PDT, treating early-rising residents across a wide swath of the state to the luminous pre-dawn spectacle of the first U.S. interplanetary spacecraft to be launched over the Pacific.

 

The lander will be carried aloft for NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) atop a two-stage, 19-story Atlas 5 rocket from the fleet of United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.

 

The payload will be released about 90 minutes after launch on a 301 million mile (484 million km) flight to Mars. It is due to reach its destination in six months, landing on a broad, smooth plain close to the planet's equator called the Elysium Planitia.

 

That will put InSight roughly 373 miles (600 km) from the 2012 landing site of the car-sized Mars rover Curiosity.

 

The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations.

 

Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet's interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets.

 

InSight's primary instrument is a French-built seismometer, designed to detect the slightest vibrations from "marsquakes" around the planet. The device, to be placed on the surface by the lander's robot arm, is so sensitive it can measure a seismic wave just one-half the radius of a hydrogen atom.

 

Scientists expect to see a dozen to 100 marsquakes over the course of the mission, producing data to help them deduce the depth, density and composition of the planet's core, the rocky mantle surrounding it and the outermost layer, the crust.

 

The Viking probes of the mid-1970s were equipped with seismometers, too, but they were bolted to the top of the landers, a design that proved largely ineffective.

 

Apollo missions to the moon brought seismometers to the lunar surface as well, detecting thousands of moonquakes and meteorite impacts. But InSight is expected to yield the first meaningful data on planetary seismic tremors beyond Earth.

 

InSight also will be fitted with a German-made drill to burrow as much as 16 feet (5 meters) underground, pulling behind it a rope-like thermal probe to measure heat flowing from inside the planet.

 

Meanwhile, a special transmitter on the lander will send radio signals back to Earth, tracking Mars' subtle rotational wobble to reveal the size of the planet's core and possibly whether it remains molten.

 

Hitching a ride aboard the same rocket that launches InSight will be a pair of miniature satellites called CubeSats, which will fly to Mars on their own paths behind the lander in a first deep-space test of that technology.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-05

[smedly]

what a waste of money, to satisfy a few egg heads 

 

I laugh at these scientists trying to justify this crap, billions and billions for what, Mars will never be habitable and no matter how bad it gets here on earth Mars or any other planet for that matter in our solar system will ever be habitable.....never ever

 

Yes by all means develop technology and propulsion but we are hardly going to make anything that will take us beyond our solar system, it just isn't going to happen, landing stuff on Mars is stupidity beyond belief and a waste of a huge amount of money, oh yes Mars does have the odd quake here and there …………………. so what - who knew, who even wants to know

 

Nobody will ever live on Mars - why would anyone want to even try, it is pure fantasy dreamed up by fictional media, books movies TV and I am a great fan of science fiction but that is exactly what it is ……… fiction for dreamers  

[Guest]

Neanderthals were probably thinking that the regions with winters below freezing point can never be habited. They were wrong.

 

A bit more than 100 ears ago, we didn't have electricity in our homes. Now it's not magic that a lightbulb lightens the room. Technology goes fast forward as long as we let it to go. Perhaps in 100 years time we'll have 2nd or 3rd generation people who have lived their lives in Mars, who do occasional tourist trips to Earth?

 

The money spent making these space probes is spent here on Earth. It's spend to pay salaries of the "egg heads", who then use it to buy houses and food from the local shops. The money goes back to the society. While the money does this round, new technologies are being developed, which benefit us all. 

 

 

 

[smedly]

24 minutes ago, oilinki said:

Neanderthals were probably thinking that the regions with winters below freezing point can never be habited. They were wrong.

 

A bit more than 100 ears ago, we didn't have electricity in our homes. Now it's not magic that a lightbulb lightens the room. Technology goes fast forward as long as we let it to go. Perhaps in 100 years time we'll have 2nd or 3rd generation people who have lived their lives in Mars, who do occasional tourist trips to Earth?

 

The money spent making these space probes is spent here on Earth. It's spend to pay salaries of the "egg heads", who then use it to buy houses and food from the local shops. The money goes back to the society. While the money does this round, new technologies are being developed, which benefit us all. 

 

 

 

oh dear, you're watching too many movies

 

we  live on earth because it is habitable - Mars isn't and never will be, but hey if they are offering free places for the one way trip do send us a postcard

Edited May 6, 2018 by smedly

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, smedly said:

oh dear, you're watching too many movies

 

we  live on earth because it is habitable - Mars isn't and never will be, but hey if they are offering free places for the one way trip do send us a postcard

You lack long term imagination and hope. 

 

Space is not habitable, yet we have had people up in the various space stations for decades. Mars is in a way much easier as one can find water from the ground. 

 

It's challenging, which makes part of the fun, but not impossible.

 

Yes, I would go, had I ever a chance to go. 

[smedly]

3 minutes ago, oilinki said:

You lack long term imagination and hope. 

 

Space is not habitable, yet we have had people up in the various space stations for decades. Mars is in a way much easier as one can find water from the ground. 

 

It's challenging, which makes part of the fun, but not impossible.

 

Yes, I would go, had I ever a chance to go. 

nothing wrong with being a dreamer or having a healthy imagination as long as you know that is all it is and it doesn't cost trillions of $'s

[Humpy]

Meanwhile, back on Earth. millions of people are starving and have limited access to fresh water. Mr Trump , the queues for the soup kitchens throughout the US get longer and you are happy to let these boffins waste millions looking for what ?  Use the technology to enhance life here on Earth .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trouble]

12 hours ago, smedly said:

nothing wrong with being a dreamer or having a healthy imagination as long as you know that is all it is and it doesn't cost trillions of $'s

It's fine with me if they spend billions on projects like this.  I only wish I could dictate how my tax dollar is spent. At least it seems like science and progress to me, rather than giving it to the politicians to waste it on social programs that only perpetuate the need for social programs.

[smedly]

53 minutes ago, Trouble said:

It's fine with me if they spend billions on projects like this.  I only wish I could dictate how my tax dollar is spent. At least it seems like science and progress to me, rather than giving it to the politicians to waste it on social programs that only perpetuate the need for social programs.

yes indeed, but Mars (and all the other planets in our solar system are totally barren desolate extremely uninhabitable rocks or masses of gas, some scientist try to imply that if planet earth gets too bad we may need Mars lol, I fail to see no matter how bad earth gets that Mars could ever possibly be an alternative choice to live on or move too, it is just nonsense and really is the stuff of fiction, we have spent billions to send a rover to Mars to tell us what we already know - it is  barren uninhabitable rock that could never ever sustain life

 

Here are the top reasons why all this is pointless and a total waste of money

 

What is already known about Mars

 

 

1.  Close to the equator on Mars (hottest place on the surface), typical night time temperatures are -70 °C. Occasionally it drops to below -100 °C. It is often cold enough for the CO₂ in the atmosphere to freeze out as dry ice

 

2. Mars does have an atmosphere, but it is so thin, it would count as a laboratory vacuum on Earth. For most purposes, you might as well be in space or on the Moon.

A human would need to put on a spacesuit to survive the low pressure, never mind the lack of oxygen. The pressure is so low, your saliva and the moisture coating the interior of your lungs would boil.

3. For a colony to survive on Mars it would need massive support from Earth, billions of dollars every few years. For what, to live in a tiny structure were you are confined for life never able to go outside, no oceans - forests - wildlife - air, nothing but red dust outside that will never be able to walk on without a special suit and only for a very limited time period.

4.  Every Martian summer, roughly every two Earth years, you get a higher chance of global dust storms. These can last for weeks, and the light from the sun drops by over 99%, During the dust storms, then artificial light is needed in middle of the day to grow crops, and you won't be able to see anything. Solar power won't work.

5. Contamination, we would contaminate Mars with micro organisms and bacteria from earth that could survive and evolve into things that make "Alien from the movie" look like a cuddly toy lol.

6. Technologies do not exits for self contained habitats and may never exist especially for somewhere like Mars- currently impossible even on ISIS which is right close to earth needs vital support from Earth.

7. Lets go for a walk ……… Not, no atmosphere to protect against the dangerous levels of - Cosmic radiation and  UV radiation and objects impacting the surface, Low gravity,

 

 

I'm selling tickets - anyone want to go

 

Total waste of money

 

Beam me up Scotty

Edited May 6, 2018 by smedly

[smedly]

3 hours ago, Humpy said:

Meanwhile, back on Earth. millions of people are starving and have limited access to fresh water. Mr Trump , the queues for the soup kitchens throughout the US get longer and you are happy to let these boffins waste millions looking for what ?  Use the technology to enhance life here on Earth .

 

my point exactly, total waste

[Stargeezr]

Giving money and spending resources on earth is a waste, as there are so many who are too lazy to work. Who live in their parents basement and all they have is a computer and grip and complain that no one gives them any money.  Might as well try to move off planet.

Geezer

[kamahele]

To the grumpy old naysayers, the amount of money the U.S. spends on science, and this launch is about science, is a drop in the bucket compared to money lost to corporate welfare give backs and the recent trillion and a half dollar + tax breaks to the rich. The money spent on science actually benefits human kind unlike stock buy backs and increased dividend pay outs.

[smedly]

5 hours ago, kamahele said:

To the grumpy old naysayers, the amount of money the U.S. spends on science, and this launch is about science, is a drop in the bucket compared to money lost to corporate welfare give backs and the recent trillion and a half dollar + tax breaks to the rich. The money spent on science actually benefits human kind unlike stock buy backs and increased dividend pay outs.

First I'll put money on it that I am younger than you, second I have no issue spending money on technology development and research provided it is sensible and contributes, I approve of stuff like ISS because it is of benefit - Mars is a dead duck and a total unjustified waste of money - yes we are doing it because some day we will colonise Mars...………..total nonsense, anyone that wants to go to Mars to live needs their head looked at...………..it is total absurdity

[kamahele]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

First I'll put money on it that I am younger than you, second I have no issue spending money on technology development and research provided it is sensible and contributes, I approve of stuff like ISS because it is of benefit - Mars is a dead duck and a total unjustified waste of money - yes we are doing it because some day we will colonise Mars...………..total nonsense, anyone that wants to go to Mars to live needs their head looked at...………..it is total absurdity

Hmmm, don't know why you have made this about you. I didn't quote you nor use your screen name. As for your age, age is also a state of mind. People can be mentally stagnant or old at a very young age.... If you want to make a wager, try the lottery seller in from of the 7-11. Who has said we are going to colonize Mars? Not me or the writer of the article.  Mars is a stepping stone in learning how to travel further out in space as well as learn more about the formation of our own planet. Here is a small list of items given back to humanity from the money spent to explore space. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11358

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by kamahele

[kannot]

On 5/6/2018 at 4:44 AM, smedly said:

what a waste of money, to satisfy a few egg heads 

 

I laugh at these scientists trying to justify this crap, billions and billions for what, Mars will never be habitable and no matter how bad it gets here on earth Mars or any other planet for that matter in our solar system will ever be habitable.....never ever

 

Yes by all means develop technology and propulsion but we are hardly going to make anything that will take us beyond our solar system, it just isn't going to happen, landing stuff on Mars is stupidity beyond belief and a waste of a huge amount of money, oh yes Mars does have the odd quake here and there …………………. so what - who knew, who even wants to know

 

Nobody will ever live on Mars - why would anyone want to even try, it is pure fantasy dreamed up by fictional media, books movies TV and I am a great fan of science fiction but that is exactly what it is ……… fiction for dreamers  

"never ever" is a VERY  long time and Ill wager anything that it will be inhabited at some point. Go back just 150 years and there wasnt even flight, now we have already left the planet, a  staggering achievement. All knowledge is useful in ways that we dont know of  today, many technologies have come from something we could not have dreamed of at the time.

[smedly]

43 minutes ago, kannot said:

"never ever" is a VERY  long time and Ill wager anything that it will be inhabited at some point. Go back just 150 years and there wasnt even flight, now we have already left the planet, a  staggering achievement. All knowledge is useful in ways that we dont know of  today, many technologies have come from something we could not have dreamed of at the time.

I believed some day we would have a flat TV you could hang on a wall, today I also believe in a lot of stuff some would not but there are just some things that really are impractical stupidity that come straight from the imagination of science fiction writers and some believe it on some level, 

 

I believe it would not be impossible to send humans to Mars and create a habitat there just the same at it would the moon - but for what ? why would anyone want to subject themselves to such a thing, it is no less feasible than to claim we could send someone to live on Mercury - for what ? it is just stupidity beyond belief, we are being fed all these fantasies about colonisation to somehow justify to the masses all the money being spent - it is impractical nonsense

 

Will we ever be able to travel the vast distances involved to populate a possible earth like planet in another solar system ? I actually don't personally believe it but at least it could be a practical goal with something feasible at the end of it, but considering the distances I just don't believe it - I have some concept of what a light year is, I am also a science fiction fan but I am also able to tell the difference between what is fantasy and impossible and what is practical and possible, warp drive - matter transporters lol - beam me up Scotty is pure science fiction and always will be.    

 

 

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, smedly said:

 

I believe it would not be impossible to send humans to Mars and create a habitat there just the same at it would the moon - but for what ? why would anyone want to subject themselves to such a thing, it is no less feasible than to claim we could send someone to live on Mercury - for what ? it is just stupidity beyond belief, we are being fed all these fantasies about colonisation to somehow justify to the masses all the money being spent - it is impractical nonsense

 

Will we ever be able to travel the vast distances involved to populate a possible earth like planet in another solar system ? I actually don't personally believe it but at least it could be a practical goal with something feasible at the end of it, but considering the distances I just don't believe it - I have some concept of what a light year is, I am also a science fiction fan but I am also able to tell the difference between what is fantasy and impossible and what is practical and possible, warp drive - matter transporters lol - beam me up Scotty is pure science fiction and always will be.    

Why? We are only one rock away from being wiped out from the future as long as we are occupying only one planet.

 

That rock could come from the direction of the Sun within next hour and we wouldn't be able to notice it before it's too late. Or that rock could come in next 100.000 years. That rock will eventually come and I hope we are prepared when the time comes.

 

We are children who has just opened it's eyes when it comes to the science and technology. Today 99% of the physicists take Einstein's speed of light as the maximum speed in the Universe. That will be changed by new science, hopefully sooner than later. At that point we'll be able to travel faster than the speed of light. 

 

"Welcome to the Milky Way express. Our first destination is Proxima Centauri. Estimated travel time is 42 minutes." 

[smedly]

1 hour ago, oilinki said:

Why? We are only one rock away from being wiped out from the future as long as we are occupying only one planet.

 

That rock could come from the direction of the Sun within next hour and we wouldn't be able to notice it before it's too late. Or that rock could come in next 100.000 years. That rock will eventually come and I hope we are prepared when the time comes.

 

We are children who has just opened it's eyes when it comes to the science and technology. Today 99% of the physicists take Einstein's speed of light as the maximum speed in the Universe. That will be changed by new science, hopefully sooner than later. At that point we'll be able to travel faster than the speed of light. 

 

"Welcome to the Milky Way express. Our first destination is Proxima Centauri. Estimated travel time is 42 minutes." 

total fantasy

 

and no matter how bad the earth got (unless totally destroyed or lost it's atmosphere)and even with the latter it would never be worse than Mars, in fact Mars is uninhabitable by any reasonable meaning of the word

 

and tell me something of benefit that we have found using probes landers and rovers spending billions that we didn't know already  

Edited May 9, 2018 by smedly

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, smedly said:

total fantasy

 

and no matter how bad the earth got (unless totally destroyed or lost it's atmosphere)and even with the latter it would never be worse than Mars, in fact Mars is uninhabitable by any reasonable meaning of the word

 

and tell me something of benefit that we have found using probes landers and rovers spending billions that we didn't know already  

Today's fantasy has the ability to become tomorrows reality. 

 

I'm pretty sure the folks who live inside Mars's crust, will be better off than the people who are facing another Moon creating collision to the Earth. 

 

To live in another planet or in a spaceship, is mostly about having enough energy to support life. With enough energy, it's possible to do all kind of chemical or physical procedures to create for example food or find / create water. 

 

 

[Becker]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

I believed some day we would have a flat TV you could hang on a wall, today I also believe in a lot of stuff some would not but there are just some things that really are impractical stupidity that come straight from the imagination of science fiction writers and some believe it on some level, 

 

I believe it would not be impossible to send humans to Mars and create a habitat there just the same at it would the moon - but for what ? why would anyone want to subject themselves to such a thing, it is no less feasible than to claim we could send someone to live on Mercury - for what ? it is just stupidity beyond belief, we are being fed all these fantasies about colonisation to somehow justify to the masses all the money being spent - it is impractical nonsense

 

Will we ever be able to travel the vast distances involved to populate a possible earth like planet in another solar system ? I actually don't personally believe it but at least it could be a practical goal with something feasible at the end of it, but considering the distances I just don't believe it - I have some concept of what a light year is, I am also a science fiction fan but I am also able to tell the difference between what is fantasy and impossible and what is practical and possible, warp drive - matter transporters lol - beam me up Scotty is pure science fiction and always will be.    

 

 

Well, to be fair you also believe(d?) that the Thai junta grabbed power to fight corruption and fix Thailand. Some things one gets right and some things one gets spectacularly wrong.

What is a fact (despite your claim that it's fantasy) is that a large asteroid colliding with earth could wipe out humanity. What is a fact is that a super volcano can do the same.

So IMO we should definitively continue pushing outwards with the aim of one day creating a place where humans can exist off planet.