Tag: Mars
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It’s showtime for launch of NASA’s Mars lnSight lander (and its piggyback probes)
An artist’s impression shows the Mars InSight lander and a cutaway view of Mars’ subsurface, with the lander’s heat probe deployed underground. (NASA Illustration) NASA’s Mars InSight lander is being prepped for a launch that will send some magical science and engineering toward the Red Planet, including two pint-sized piggyback probes and a seismometer that…
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Mars Sample Return mission gains traction – SLS and Orion had an eye on involvement
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have signed a statement of intent to jointly explore various options related to a potential Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in the next decade. Returning Martian samples to Earth has long been a goal for the world’s spaceflight agencies, with new promotional materials from NASA indicating that the…
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NASA’s Kilopower project demonstrates a nuclear reactor that’s made for space
Kilopower lead engineer Marc Gibson and Vantage Partner’s Jim Sanzi install hardware on the Kilopower assembly at the Nevada National Security Site during testing in March. (NNSS Photo) That’s one small step for nuclear reactors on the moon and Mars, and several giant leaps to go. Eventually, the technology pioneered by NASA’s Kilopower project could…
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Managers clear InSight for launch after heat shield review
Ground crews oversee the installation of InSight’s heat shield last month. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Aaron Taubman NASA officials have determined that the robotic InSight lander is ready for its mission to Mars after concluding that the probe should not suffer the same flaw that led to a crack in a heat shield undergoing tests…
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Photos: NASA’s InSight lander buttoned up for trip to Mars
The payload fairing of InSight’s Atlas 5 launcher was closed around the spacecraft April 16. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing Now cocooned inside a heat shield and the nose shroud of an Atlas 5 rocket that will send it to Mars, NASA’s InSight lander is awaiting launch May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.…
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NASA to replace cracked heat shield in time for Mars 2020 rover launch
Artist’s concept of the Mars Science Laboratory, containing the Curiosity rover, entering the Martian atmosphere. The Mars 2020 mission will use the same heat shield design. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA officials plan to replace the Mars 2020 rover’s heat shield after engineers discovered a crack in the structure earlier this month, but managers anticipate no delay…
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Europe’s Trace Gas Orbiter sends its first color picture of Mars – and it’s spectacular
An image from the CaSSIS camera on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter shows the rim of Korolev Crater on Mars. Click on the image for a larger version. (ESA / Roscosmos / CaSSIS Image) The first color image to come from a camera aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in its Mars-mapping orbit shows the…
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Atlas 5/InSight launch windows
Artist’s concept of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying NASA’s InSight lander toward Mars will have a roughly two-hour predawn launch window each day from May 5 through June 8 to boost the science…
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InSight Mars lander joined with Atlas 5 launcher at Vandenberg Air Force Base
File photo of a payload being lifted atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base before a previous mission. Credit: United Launch Alliance Ground crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s Central Coast hoisted NASA’s InSight Mars lander atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket Monday, kicking off nearly two weeks…
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Breakthrough Discuss turns spotlight on search for life elsewhere in solar system
Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shows a graphic that compares the size of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, with the British Isles. (Breakthrough Initiatives Photo) STANFORD, Calif. — Are there microbes falling in the snows of Enceladus? Could a drone fly to biological hot spots on Titan? Is life floating in the sulfurous clouds of Venus?…