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The Marsquakes mission successfully lands on the red planet
Press release
From: British Space Agency
Posted: Monday, November 26, 2018
A mission on Mars, supported by the British Space Agency, has successfully landed and will soon begin the first study of the heart of the planet.
NASA's InSight mission landed at 19:53 GMT on Monday, November 26.
InSight will study the interior of Mars to learn how planets, moons and rocky meteorites, including the Earth and its Moon, have formed. Lander instruments include a seismometer to detect 'Marsquakes' and a probe to monitor heat flow beneath the surface of the planet.
The British Space Agency has invested £ 4 million in the short-period seismometer (SEIS-SP). It will be on the surface of Mars to measure the seismic waves of Marsquakes. Scientists expect to detect between a dozen and a hundred of these quakes up to a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale over a two year period.
Sue Horne, head of space exploration at the British Space Agency, said: "This is wonderful news that the InSight spacecraft has landed safely on Mars. British scientists and engineers involved in this mission have spent many years of their life building the seismometer, and the descent is still a worrying time. We can now look forward to the deployment of the instrument and the data that will begin to arrive in the new year, to better understand how the planet has formed. "
InSight offers three instruments designed and built in the UK as part of the seismic package. These microseismometric sensors were developed by Imperial College London and integrated into the electronics built by Oxford University.
The British team is led by Professor Tom Pike, of Imperial, who designed the sensors to withstand the shocks and vibrations caused by launching from Earth and landing on Mars. The sensors can detect movements at subatomic scales using the Oxford-built electronics by Dr. Simon Calcutt, with the help of STFC RAL Space.
Professor Tom Pike said, "We were able to activate the microsimeters during the cruise to Mars and they worked perfectly, showing that they survived the rigors of the launch when they left the Earth. But every landing on Mars is risky and we wait nervously at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to retrieve the first signal of this successful landing. "
The lander will take several weeks to deploy two of his three instruments, the seismometer and the probe, on the Martian surface. The UK will rely on a team of scientists specializing in instruments owned by the Imperial and Oxford JPL in California, including to select the right location for the robotic arm that will drop the seismometer.
Professor Pike added, "We should listen to Marsquakes for at least two years and hope for much longer. It is essential to place the instrument in the best place to ensure our stability, and then add a cover to protect our wind sensors. "
British seismologists from Bristol, led by Dr. Nick Teanby, Imperial, led by Professor Gareth Collins, and Oxford, led by Dr. Neil Bowles, will join the team to analyze data from all instruments of the mission.
Neil Bowles, Department of Physics, Oxford University, said: "The SEIS-SP InSight Seismometer is one of the most sensitive and challenging instruments we have worked on for spaceflight in Oxford. After the launch in May and the successful instrument checks during the Mars cruise, the team is absolutely thrilled to witness the landing. We have shown that a traditionally delicate scientific instrument can be launched on a rocket. The next challenge is to see how it behaves on the surface of the planet.
"Together with our partners at Imperial College London, STFC RAL Space and the British Space Agency, the SEIS-SP seismometer assembly and qualification was a considerable effort. After almost a decade of preparation, construction and testing, we are extremely pleased that science can now begin. "
The mission, which left California last May, will conduct six scientific investigations on and under the surface of Mars to uncover the evolutionary history that shaped all the rock planets of the inner solar system.
Anna Horleston, a researcher at Bristol University, said: "I have studied seismic data from around the world, but having the opportunity to study data from Mars is nothing else. To see it happen and test our techniques on real Martian seismic data is really exciting. "
The British instrument will collaborate with French seismometers, as well as major contributions from Switzerland, Germany and the United States. Other instruments on board include RISE, a precision radio tracking of the undercarriage that can determine the direction and movement of the Mars rotation and the HP3 (heat flux and physical properties probe) that will study heat flow by incorporating a sub-surface temperature sensor. Of March.
Note:
InSight is synonymous with inland exploration using seismic surveys, geodesy and heat transport.
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