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The small cubesat MarCO-B NASA took this picture of Mars from a distance of 310,000 km on November 24, 2018 before the landing of the InSight probe on November 26th. This annotated view shows the visible parts of the spacecraft.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
PASADENA, Calif. – A small cube cruising into interplanetary space has captured a new glimpse of Mars just before watching NASA's InSight lander land on the red planet.
The cubesat, one of two Mars Cube One probes (called MarCO for short) took the picture of Mars on Saturday (24 November). There are two days left before the InSight probe lands on the Elysium Planitia plains on Monday, November 26 to study the interior of Mars.
"We're taking more photos," MarCo-A mission manager Cody Colley told reporters at a press conference on Sunday (November 26). "The MarCOs use a very standard camera, and we learn as we take these pictures." [NASA’s InSight Mars Lander: Full Coverage]
The photo was taken by the MarCO-B cubesat, showing Mars at a distance of about 500,000 kilometers (310,000 miles), according to a description of NASA's image.
The MarCo twin cubes are demonstration machines designed to test the potential of tiny satellites for interplanetary missions. They were launched with the Mars InSight Lander in May and are the first cubesats to execute an interplanetary mission.
Scientists hope that the MarCO cubesats will be able to serve as communication relays during the InSight landing on Mars, returning the LG 's telemetry to the Earth. Each MarCO probe is about the size of a case and is equipped with an attitude control system using the R236FA compressed gas, commonly used in fire extinguishers. This prompted NASA scientists to nickname them "Wall-E" and "Eva" after the two robots that use a fire extinguisher to fly into the space of the movie "Wall" -E "Disney.
Clear view of Mars (bottom left) seen by NASA's small cubesat MarCO-B on November 24, 2018. At that time, the spacecraft was about 310,000 miles from Mars.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Unlike InSight, MarCO probes will not stop on Mars. They will fly over the red planet and continue in the space between planets, NASA officials said.
Visit Space.com on Monday, November 26 for full coverage of the March InSight landings, including a live webcast at 2:00 pm. EST (1900 GMT). The landing is scheduled for around 15:00. EST (2000 GMT).
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