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When an Atlas V rocket took off in May and the InSight probe fired at Mars, it was the first time NASA was moving from the US west coast to another planet. Until now, all missions on the solar system had started in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the Atlantic coast. InSight however followed another course just after the start. She first gravitated the Earth on a path that led her first to the poles, before moving away from Earth's gravity field and heading for Mars.
Extra towers excluded
As a native of California, he was delighted to break the East Coast monopoly on interplanetary rocket launchers, said Tom Hoffmann, project leader of the InSight mission of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), also in California. Tonight, six months later, NASA should rejoice – and be unyielding.
"We're going to land on Mars tonight, whatever it is, the probe is in free fall on Mars, on a non-motorized trajectory that we can not change, we can not intervene, and we can not make additional rounds turn Mars, if in the landing area, a sandstorm should rage. "
InSight is not mobile. Where the probe is, it stays there. His instruments can then be placed nearby with the help of his robotic arm. For the first time in an American space project, all these instruments come from Europe. Their task: study Mars, study its interior – said Tilman Spohn of the Planetary Research Institute of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
"If you want to explore a planet, it's important to know what it looks like in. All of the geology we see on Earth is generated by internal processes, which leads to volcanism, to the planet. orogenesis and seismology, earthquakes, etc., and this planetary machine ultimately depends on how the planet is built in. "
Fluoroscopy as in ultrasound
Six seismometers are supposed to illuminate Mars as an ultrasound. The way these seismic waves propagate through the rocks, their speed, distraction and frequency inform scientists of the composition of the layers. The DLR is involved with a so-called mole to literally break Mars.
"This instrument has in common with the mole to penetrate the ground, just like the mole, but the technique with which it does it is different." You sink like that, you rush into the ground. could say that it's a kind of probe depressed ".
HP3 is the name of this Rammsonde, so "HP three high". The H represents the heat flux, for the heat flux in the Martian soil, and the three P's for the physical property package, the physical properties.
"What happens in there, is a raised mbad and a stretched spring, then it is released, then the anvil collides inside, and then the ram probe is accelerated. " This is the principle that I use. put a nail in the wall. "
Learn more about the Earth since March
At five meters deep, this mole must dig in Mars. Then, it will send a heat pulse to its end. The sensors must determine the time needed for the ground to cool again. And this, in turn, will tell researchers whether the Martian soil conducts heat well or not.
All of these results could help clarify how terrestrial planets – similar to Earth – have emerged: Mars – but also the Earth.
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