The InSight Mission to Mars Master Thread

[redliox]

Any word yet on further trajectory corrections?

[meekGee]

The Oatmeal's take on Insight's mission:

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/insight

Cute.  However:  "Pulling 12 g in 2 minutes"?  I wish he'd have written "for" instead of "in".  Why are units so difficult to understand?

Also, good luck, InSight

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ABCD: Always Be Counting Down

[mcgyver]

Why do NASA Horizons Insight data look so weird today? They state landing is going to happen on 25th rather than on 26th!!


2458448.318055556, A.D. 2018-Nov-25 19:38:00.0000, 9.125119431869558E-01, 2.735641984023738E+05, -3.024901901551133E+00,
2458448.318750000, A.D. 2018-Nov-25 19:39:00.0000, 9.119065406414170E-01, 2.733827032851672E+05, -3.024935345862831E+00,
2458448.319444444, A.D. 2018-Nov-25 19:40:00.0000, 1.131818709765760E-02, 3.393107130110657E+03, 4.196530165013691E-14,
2458448.320138889, A.D. 2018-Nov-25 19:41:00.0000, 1.131818656712531E-02, 3.393106971061080E+03, -5.212723928404643E-06,



Trajectory files                           Start (TDB)           End (TDB)
--------------------------------------  -----------------   ----------------- 
od002_v1.V0.1                           2018-May-05 12:39   2018-May-05 21:00 
od037_v1_delTCAL.V0.1                   2018-May-05 21:00   2018-Jun-08 00:00 
od092_v1.V0.1                           2018-Jun-08 00:00   2018-Jul-29 00:01 
od102_v1.V0.1                           2018-Jul-29 00:01   2018-Nov-25 19:40
4day_landed.V0.1                        2018-Nov-25 19:40   2018-Nov-29 19:40


Anyway, my simulator is evnetually finished:


http://win98.altervista.org/space/exploration/insight/insight-edl-simulator.html

[speedevil]

The Oatmeal's take on Insight's mission:

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/insight

Cute.  However:  "Pulling 12 g in 2 minutes"?  I wish he'd have written "for" instead of "in".  Why are units so difficult to understand?

For is clearly wrong, that would be a constant deceleration of a total of 14.4km/s.
'a maximum of' seems likely to be correct, based on maths performed without the aid of envelopes, and the peak G period would last a dozen seconds or so.

[meekGee]

The Oatmeal's take on Insight's mission:

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/insight

Cute.  However:  "Pulling 12 g in 2 minutes"?  I wish he'd have written "for" instead of "in".  Why are units so difficult to understand?

For is clearly wrong, that would be a constant deceleration of a total of 14.4km/s.
'a maximum of' seems likely to be correct, based on maths performed without the aid of envelopes, and the peak G period would last a dozen seconds or so.

Heh yeah, so a more elaborate sentence would ensue...  "Pulling a maximum of 12 g over a 2 minute deceleration period"..  it fits in the comic dimensions too, I checked.


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ABCD: Always Be Counting Down

[FutureSpaceTourist]

[lamid]

JPL Horizons updated the data
od110_v2_V0.1                           2018-Oct-12 19:00   2018-Nov-26 19:40
26.11.18 19:39:00   3 629 km   5,69823 km/s
26.11.18 19:39:59   3 544 km   5,74766 km/s

4day_landed.V0.1                        2018-Nov-26 19:40   2018-Nov-29 19:40
26.11.18 19:40:00   3 393 km   0,23978 km/s
26.11.18 19:41:00   3 393 km   0,23978 km/s

_{Mars radius is 3389 km}

[mcgyver]

A couple of Twitter account for HIRISE/MRO imager:


https://twitter.com/HiRISEBot
https://twitter.com/HiRISE
NASA plans to  take a shot of the landing after parachute opening to check parachute status.

[mcgyver]

"INSTITUT DE PHYSIQUE DU GLOBE DE PARIS" (IPGP)designed the main instrument of Insight, the SEIS Mars seismometer, this is the official twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/InSight_IPGP


I can't find any twitter feed for the cubesats Marco-A and Marco-B.

[mcgyver]

These are the changes applied to EDL sequence after Phoenix mission:

[lamid]

InSight arrival to Mars, detail
JPL Horizons, step 1 min
od110_v2_V0.1
2018-Nov-26 19:20
2018-Nov-26 19:39:59

and Jump

4day_landed.V0.1                           
2018-Nov-26 19:40
2018-Nov-26 19:53

[mcgyver]

InSight arrival to Mars, detail

I don't know how much you know javascript, anyway this is a page I am using to automatically plot Horizons data:
http://win98.altervista.org/space/exploration/insight/horizons-insight.html



It was not indeded for public release but just for my personal use, so it does not have any other interface than a button; to change ranges of X and Y axis and Horizons parameter you have to directly edit the source...


Anyway I don't think Horizons will show the EDL, at least not for next weeks, until EDL data will be downloaded and processed.


Here you define start/stop dates of the data:


      fullURL_Mars = fullURLTemplate.replace("#START#","2018-11-26%2019:30");
      fullURL_Mars = fullURL_Mars.replace("#END#","2018-11-26%2019:50");



This is the time step; allowed values are m, h ,d (minutes, days, hours)


      fullURL_Mars = fullURL_Mars.replace("#STEP#","1%20m");


Don't remove the "%20" or things may not work properly.

Here you set the maximum Y value:



      Marsconfig = configTemplate();
         Marsconfig.options.title.text = 'Insight - Mars';
         Marsconfig.options.scales.yAxes[0].ticks.max = 1e4;
   


Here you define how many curves (=datasets) are plotted in the same chart:



               labels: [],
               datasets: [{
                  label: 'Distance',
                  backgroundColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  borderColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  data: [ ],
                  fill: false,
                  pointRadius: 1,
                  showLine: false
               }]



To add a dataset/curve, just add an element to the array (don't forget the comma):






               labels: [],
               datasets: [{
                  label: 'Distance',
                  backgroundColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  borderColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  data: [ ],
                  fill: false,
                  pointRadius: 1,
                  showLine: false
               },



{
                  label: 'Distance',
                  backgroundColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  borderColor: window.chartColors.blue,
                  data: [ ],
                  fill: false,
                  pointRadius: 1,
                  showLine: false
               }
]



Once you have defined the arrays, you fill them here, but here things get complex because you have to perform multiple calls to Horizons and multiple decoding:



         Marsconfig.data.datasets[0].data.push(LineArray[3]);





This url lists all available observer locations.
This url lists all available targets (both natural and artificial). Some possible values for "COMMAND" parameter:
-143  ExoMars TGO (spacecraft)                                             
-84  Phoenix (spacecraft) 

-74  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter               MRO                 
-65  MarCO-A (spacecraft)                            Wall-E               
-66  MarCO-B (spacecraft)                            Eva   
-53  Mars Odyssey (spacecraft)     
-41  Mars Express (spacecraft)                       MEX     

[mcgyver]

InSight arrival to Mars, detail

I don't know how much you know javascript, anyway this is a page I am using to automatically plot Horizons data:
http://win98.altervista.org/space/exploration/insight/horizons-insight.html

This version includes Marco-A and Marco-B behaviours:
http://win98.altervista.org/space/exploration/insight/horizons-insight-002.html


But I don't think these data take into account aidrag at 6000 km altitude: Marco's will burn up.

[mcgyver]

Ops, I confused km with m.
Anyway they will be 3000km, as 6000km is distance from Mars center. But it's still around 2865 km above "atmosphere edge", where Insight is expected to meet first air molecules (135 km altitude).

[joseph.a.navin]

Insight up close

[joseph.a.navin]

They just said they are going to do TCM-6, about 11 miles off of the center of target.

[lamid]

the altitude of Insight above the mean radius of Mars 3389.5 km
Time 19:20 - 19:40

source:
_{JPL Horizons
od110_v2_V0.1                           2018-Oct-12 19:00   2018-Nov-26 19:40}

Edit: the surface at the point of landing 4 ° 30 '0 "N, 135 ° 0' 0" E is from the center of Mars 3393 km,
Google earth report -2 663 m, _{3396,2 km (Equatorial radius)  -2 663 m}=3393,5 km

[nasafail]

From yesterday's news from JPL:

"In just over 24 hours, NASA's InSight spacecraft will complete its seven-month journey to Mars. It will have cruised 301,223,981 miles (484,773,006 km) at a top speed of 6,200 mph (10,000 kph)."

Is a top speed of 6,200 mph right for an Earth-Mars transfer?

[Rondaz]

NASA’s InSight Is One Day Away from Mars

Tony Greicius Posted on November 25, 2018

In just over 24 hours, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will complete its seven-month journey to Mars. It will have cruised 301,223,981 miles (484,773,006 km) at a top speed of 6,200 mph (10,000 kph).

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which leads the mission, are preparing for the spacecraft to enter the Martian atmosphere, descend with a parachute and retrorockets, and touch down tomorrow at around noon PST (3 p.m. EST). InSight — which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — will be the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2018/11/25/nasas-insight-is-one-day-away-from-mars/

[speedevil]

From yesterday's news from JPL:

"In just over 24 hours, NASA's InSight spacecraft will complete its seven-month journey to Mars. It will have cruised 301,223,981 miles (484,773,006 km) at a top speed of 6,200 mph (10,000 kph)."

Is a top speed of 6,200 mph right for an Earth-Mars transfer?

Depends where you measure it from.
Once it gets out of earths influence - May 8, and earth stops slowing it, the speed is 3km/s - 6700MPH a few days later. Then it drops to a minimum of 2.58km/s in June, as the trajectory curves it a bit towards earth, with a peak a couple of days ago before it enters Mars influence of 15.3km/s.
Looking from Mars POV, it begins at 16km/s towards, and decreases all the way down to 3km/s towards a few days ago.

From the perspective of the sun, it starts modestly at only .4km/s, peaks at 4km/s away in July, and drops down to 1.7km/s just before entrance.
I'm not sure where they'd have gotten the 'top speed' from. - it seems likely it's velocity in excess of escape orbit, rather than actual top speed in any particular metric.

JPL horizons is great.