InSight, MarCO-A, MarCO-B - Atlas V 401 - Vandenberg SLC-3E - 05.05.2018 - 11:05 UTC

[Старый]

Фигасе финт ушами! Трасса NOSSа, опорная орбита 63 градуса. Лавры Марса-1 не дают покоя, чтоли?
 Я думал вообще через 90 градусов полетят. 

[Старый]

Отработка межпланетного импульса над Восточным!  
А каково объяснение столь хитрой траектории? 

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2018/04/19/atlas-v-prepared-to-boost-nasas-insight-to-mars/

Atlas V Prepared to Boost NASA's InSight to Mars

Bob Granath
Posted Apr 19, 2018 at 10:51 am



At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage are lifted for positioning on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 3. The rocket will launch NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft for its trip to Mars.

Спойлер

While processing of the InSight spacecraft continues in the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg, the Atlas V booster was transported to the launch pad on March 3, 2018 (photo on the left). Three days later, technicians and engineers assisted as the Centaur upper stage was mated atop the Atlas V (photo on the right).

On March 8, the boattail fairing was mated atop the Centaur. The boattail is an adaptor providing an interface between the Centaur and the payload fairing encapsulating InSight. Once encapsulated in its payload faring, InSight will be transported to the launch pad and mounted atop the Atlas V. Liftoff is scheduled for May 5, 2018.

InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

Atlas booster photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
Centaur lift photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Arron Taubman

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NASA's First Deep Space CubeSats

NASA 360

Опубликовано: 19 апр. 2018 г.

NASA's Mars Cube One, or MarCO, is heading to deep space to test a first-of-its-kind technology demonstration: near-real-time communication between Earth and Mars using CubeSats.

(0:53)

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https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7101

APRIL 19, 2018
NASA Engineers Dream Big with Small Spacecraft

Спойлер

An artist's rendering of the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft as they fly through deep space. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- attempting to fly to another planet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 
› Full image and caption


Engineer Joel Steinkraus uses sunlight to test the solar arrays on one of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 
› Full image and caption


Joel Steinkraus, MarCO lead mechanical engineer fr om JPL, makes an adjustment on the CubeSat prior to integration in a deployment box as seen inside the cleanroom lab at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Monday, March 12. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Tyvak/Cal Poly SLO 
› Full image and caption


One of the MarCO CubeSats inside a cleanroom at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, before being placed into its deployment box. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Tyvak/Cal Poly SLO
› Full image and caption

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Many of NASA's most iconic spacecraft towered over the engineers who built them: think Voyagers 1 and 2, Cassini or Galileo -- all large machines that could measure up to a school bus.

But in the past two decades, mini-satellites called CubeSats have made space accessible to a new generation. These briefcase-sized boxes are more focused in their abilities and have a fraction of the mass -- and cost -- of some past titans of space.

Спойлер

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLTiv_XWHnOZpzQKYC6nLf6M9AuBbng_O8&time_continue=2&v=P_8ZEAPrrHQ
(video 0:53)
NASA's Mars Cube One, or MarCO, is heading to deep space to test a first-of-its-kind technology demonstration: near-real-time communication between Earth and Mars using CubeSats.

In May, engineers will be watching closely as NASA launches its first pair of CubeSats designed for deep space. The twin spacecraft are called Mars Cube One, or MarCO, and were built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Both MarCO spacecraft will be hitching a ride on the same rocket launching InSight, NASA's next robotic lander headed for Mars. The MarCOs are intended to follow InSight on its cruise through space; if they survive the journey, each is equipped with a folding high-gain antenna to relay data about InSight as it enters the Martian atmosphere and lands.

The MarCOs won't produce any science of their own, and aren't required for InSight to send its data back home (the lander will rely on NASA's Mars orbiters for that, in addition to communicating directly with antennas on Earth). But the twins will be a crucial first test of CubeSat technology beyond Earth orbit, demonstrating how they could be used to further explore the solar system.

"These are our scouts," said Andy Klesh of JPL, MarCO's chief engineer. "CubeSats haven't had to survive the intense radiation of a trip to deep space before, or use propulsion to point their way towards Mars. We hope to blaze that trail."

The official names of these two scouts are "MarCO-A" and "MarCO-B." But to the team that built them, they're "Wall-E" and "Eva" -- nicknames based on Pixar characters. Both MarCOs use a compressed gas commonly found in fire extinguishers to push themselves through space, the same way Wall-E did in his 2008 film.

Survival is far from guaranteed. As the saying goes: space is hard. The first challenge will be switching on. The MarCO batteries were last checked in March by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, which ins erted each CubeSat into a special dispenser that will propel it in to space. Those batteries will be used to deploy each CubeSat's solar arrays, with the hope that enough power will be left over to turn on their radios. If power is too low, the MarCO team may hear silence until each spacecraft is more fully charged.

If both MarCOs make the journey, they'll test a method of communications relay that could act as a "black box" for future Mars landings, helping engineers understand the difficult process of getting spacecraft to safely touch down on the Red Planet. Mars landings are notoriously hard to stick.

The MarCOs could also prove that CubeSats are ready to go beyond Earth. CubeSats were first developed to teach university students about satellites. Today, they're a major commercial technology, providing data on everything from shipping routes to environmental changes.

NASA scientists are eager to explore the solar system using CubeSats. JPL even has its own CubeSat clean room, wh ere several flight projects have been built, including the MarCOs. For young engineers, the thrill is building something that could potentially reach Mars in just a matter of years rather than a decade.

"We're a small team, so everyone gets experience working on multiple parts of the spacecraft," Klesh said. "You learn everything about building, testing and flying along the way. We're inventing every day at this point."

The MarCOs were built by JPL, which manages InSight and MarCO for NASA. They were funded by both JPL and NASA's Science Mission Directorate. A number of commercial suppliers provided unique technologies for the MarCOs. A full list, along with more information about the spacecraft, can be found here.

News Media Contact

Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

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2018-077

[hlynin]

— НАСА. Марс "Инсайт" (NASA, Mars InSight Launch) (на англ.) NASA. Press Kit, May 2018 в pdf - 6,81 Мб
 «Следующая миссия NASA на Марс - Инсайт - начнется с ВВС Ванденберга в Калифорнии уже 5 мая 2018 года. Ожидается, что она достигнет Красной Планеты 26 ноября 2018 года. InSight - это миссия на Марс, но это больше, чем миссия к Марсу, это поможет ученым понять формирование и раннюю эволюцию всех твёрдых планет, включая Землю. Технологический демонстратор под названием Mars Cube One (MarCO) совмещен с запуском InSight и отправится отдельно на Марс». - Пресс-кит дает обзор космических аппаратов, миссии, целей науки и экспериментов. Приложение посвещено Mars Cube One Tech Demo.
 скачал отсюда https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/insight/download/mars_insight_launch_presskit.pdf

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/24/insight-mars-lander-joined-with-atlas-5-launcher-at-vandenberg-air-force-base/

InSight Mars lander joined with Atlas 5 launcher at Vandenberg Air Force Base
April 24, 2018 | Stephen Clark


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 of integrated tests and checkouts before the probe's interplanetary launch window opens May 5.

Спойлер

Enclosed within the Atlas 5's metallic 13.8-foot (4.2-meter) diameter shroud, the InSight spacecraft was transferred fr om an Astrotech payload processing facility to Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg early Monday. A crane lifted the probe top the Atlas 5 rocket protected inside the launch pad's mobile gantry, and technicians mated the payload on top of the Atlas 5's Centaur upper stage.

With the addition of InSight and its aerodynamic enclosure, the Atlas 5 rocket stands 188 feet (57 meters) tall.

No photos of payload lift operation were released by NASA or ULA as of Tuesday afternoon.

The final assembly of the Atlas 5 rocket is one of the last major steps before launch. Engineers will check electrical connections between the launcher and its payload in a series of tests over the next few days, setting up for final readiness reviews next week and the start of countdown preparations the evening of Friday, May 4, with the retraction of the mobile service tower at the SLC-3E launch pad.

InSight has a two-hour launch predawn window May 5 opening at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT). The nearly $1 billion mission, funded primarily by NASA with contributions from France and Germany, has until June 8 to launch from Vandenberg, when the ever-changing positions of Earth and Mars in the solar system make a direct trip possible. Mars launch opportunities come once every 26 months.

The lander will arrive at Mars on Nov. 26, regardless of the launch date from May 5 through June 8.


NASA's InSight spacecraft, pictured here in its cruise configuration, during launch preparations in a clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez

InSight will be the first mission to another planet to launch from Vandenberg, a military base on the Pacific coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Vandenberg Air Force Base is typically host to launches into polar orbit, a type of orbit usually tailored for climate research missions, spy satellites and some communication applications.

NASA's interplanetary probes are usually reserved for launches from Cape Canaveral, wh ere rockets take off toward the east over the Atlantic Ocean for safety reasons. A launch toward the east gains an extra boost from the speed of Earth's rotation, allowing a rocket to carry a heavier payload.

But InSight is small — it will weigh around 1,530 pounds (694 kilograms) at launch — well below the lift capability of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, which will fly in its basic "401" configuration with a four-meter payload fairing and no solid rocket boosters.

That means the Atlas 5 will not need the extra energy imparted during an eastward launch from Cape Canaveral, and ULA and NASA agreed to launch InSight from Vandenberg. Fewer Atlas 5 missions are scheduled from Vandenberg, so officials wanted to reduce the workload at ULA's busier launch base in Florida.

"We're really excited," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Decker, commander of the 4th Space Launch Squadron at Vandenberg, in an interview with Spaceflight Now earlier this year. "Since it's not a classified mission and it's more public, it's fun for our squadron because we can interact a little more and share information with our families and other people."

The 4th Space Launch Squadron provides support for ULA's Atlas and Delta rocket missions at Vandenberg, a launch manifest that is primarily comprised of secret spy satellites for the U.S. government.


One half of the Atlas 5 rocket's payload shroud for the InSight mission. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Julio Paz

Designers based the InSight lander on NASA's Phoenix probe, which launched in August 2007 and touched down on the northern polar plains of Mars in May 2008. Diminishing solar power and cold temperatures limited Phoenix's lifetime to about five months — two months longer than its three-month prime mission.

InSight will head for a broad plain near the Martian equator with ample sunlight year-round. Officials sel ected the landing site in Elysium Planitia for its safety — there are few steep slopes or huge boulders. Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, calls it "the biggest parking lot on Mars."

A robotic arm on InSight will place a French-built seismometer on the surface of Mars near the lander, and a heat probe provided by the German space agency, DLR, will burrow up to 16 feet (5 meters) underground to measure thermal energy coming from the red planet's interior.

Scientists will collect the seismic and thermal data to find out about the structure of Mars's crust, mantle and core. The information will help geologists understand how rocky planets like Mars, and Earth, formed in the early solar system.

The geologic record dating back to the birth of the planets some 4.5 billion years ago has been erased on Earth.


United Launch Alliance conducted a "wet dress rehearsal" fueling test on the Atlas 5 rocket for the InSight mission last month. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

ULA's launch team at Vandenberg began assembling the Atlas 5 rocket on its launch pad at Vandenberg on March 3 with the stacking of the kerosene-fueled first stage booster.

The Atlas 5's Centaur upper stage, powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine, was installed on top of the first stage March 6. The Centaur engine, consuming liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, will dispatch the InSight probe with enough velocity to escape Earth's gravity and head for Mars.

Two days later, on March 8, a boattail structure was added to the top of the Centaur stage. The boattail provides an aerodynamic and structural connection between the Centaur and the Atlas 5's payload fairing.

A pair of CubeSats that will accompany InSight to Mars were installed on their carrier aboard the Centaur upper stage last month. The CubeSats will fly by Mars and attempt to beam telemetry fr om InSight back to Earth during the lander's descent.

The launch team completed a countdown rehearsal March 22, during which the Atlas 5 was loaded with liquid propellants to simulate launch day procedures. The "wet dress rehearsal" is not part of a typical Atlas 5 launch campaign, but managers added the test to wring out any potential problems with the rocket well ahead of liftoff due to InSight's tight interplanetary launch period.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/24/atlas-5-insight-launch-windows/

Atlas 5/InSight launch windows
April 24, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Artist's concept of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA

he 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 probe into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The nearly five-week launch period is dictated by the positions of Earth and Mars in the solar system, an alignment that occurs once every 26 months to make a direct journey between the planets possible.

The exact duration of the launch window varies day-to-day, but around two hours will be available each day, according to NASA. A unique launch opportunity is available every five minutes during each day's launch window.

Спойлер

InSight's landing on Mars will occur Nov. 26 around 3 p.m. EST (12 p.m. PST; 0800 GMT), no matter which day the probe blasts off from California. InSight is designed to study the deep interior structure of Mars with a pair of scientific instruments for at least two years.

Here are are the times for the opening of each day's launch window from May 5 through June 8 (Data source: NASA/JPL):

[/li]
• May 5: 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT)
• May 6: 3:55 a.m. PDT (6:55 a.m. EDT; 1055 GMT)
• May 7: 3:50 a.m. PDT (6:50 a.m. EDT; 1050 GMT)
• May 8: 3:40 a.m. PDT (6:40 a.m. EDT; 1040 GMT)
• May 9: 3:35 a.m. PDT (6:35 a.m. EDT; 1035 GMT)
• May 10: 3:30 a.m. PDT (6:30 a.m. EDT; 1030 GMT)
• May 11: 3:20 a.m. PDT (6:20 a.m. EDT; 1020 GMT)
• May 12: 3:15 a.m. PDT (6:15 a.m. EDT; 1015 GMT)
• May 13: 3:10 a.m. PDT (6:10 a.m. EDT; 1010 GMT)
• May 14: 3:00 a.m. PDT (6:00 a.m. EDT; 1000 GMT)
• May 15: 2:55 a.m. PDT (5:55 a.m. EDT; 0955 GMT)
• May 16: 2:45 a.m. PDT (5:45 a.m. EDT; 0945 GMT)
• May 17: 2:40 a.m. PDT (5:40 a.m. EDT; 0940 GMT)
• May 18: 2:35 a.m. PDT (5:35 a.m. EDT; 0935 GMT)
• May 19: 2:25 a.m. PDT (5:25 a.m. EDT; 0925 GMT)
• May 20: 2:20 a.m. PDT (5:20 a.m. EDT: 0920 GMT)
• May 21: 2:10 a.m. PDT (5:10 a.m. EDT; 0910 GMT)
• May 22: 2:05 a.m. PDT (5:05 a.m. EDT; 0905 GMT)
• May 23: 2:00 a.m. PDT (5:00 a.m. EDT; 0900 GMT)
• May 24: 1:50 a.m. PDT (4:50 a.m. EDT; 0850 GMT)
• May 25: 1:45 a.m. PDT (4:45 a.m. EDT; 0845 GMT)
• May 26: 1:40 a.m. PDT (4:40 a.m. EDT; 0840 GMT)
• May 27: 1:35 a.m. PDT (4:35 a.m. EDT; 0835 GMT)
• May 28: 1:30 a.m. PDT (4:30 a.m. EDT; 0830 GMT)
• May 29: 1:25 a.m. PDT (4:25 a.m. EDT; 0825 GMT)
• May 30: 1:20 a.m. PDT (4:20 a.m. EDT; 0820 GMT)
• May 31: 1:10 a.m. PDT (4:10 a.m. EDT; 0810 GMT)
• June 1: 1:05 a.m. PDT (4:05 a.m. EDT; 0805 GMT)
• June 2: 1:00 a.m. PDT (4:00 a.m. EDT; 0800 GMT)
• June 3: 12:55 a.m. PDT (3:55 a.m. EDT; 0755 GMT)
• June 4: 12:50 a.m. PDT (3:50 a.m. EDT; 0750 GMT)
• June 5: 12:45 a.m. PDT (3:45 a.m. EDT; 0745 GMT)
• June 6: 12:40 a.m. PDT (3:40 a.m. EDT; 0740 GMT)
• June 7: 12:35 a.m. PDT (3:35 a.m. EDT; 0735 GMT)
• June 8: 12:30 a.m. PDT (3:30 a.m. EDT; 0730 GMT)
  

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2018/04/27/nasas-insight-spacecraft-attached-to-atlas-v-rocket-for-launch/

NASA's InSight Spacecraft Attached to Atlas V Rocket for Launch

Linda Herridge
Posted Apr 27, 2018 at 4:21 pm


NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars Lander is transported to Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Daniel Herrera

NASA's next Mars lander is one significant step closer to beginning its journey. Secured inside its payload fairing, the agency's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft was transported from the Astrotech facility to Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Спойлер

Technicians and engineers position NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars Lander atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold

The payload fairing was hoisted up inside the Vertical Integration Facility and attached to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for May 5, 2018.

InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the Red Planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/insight-briefings-and-events

April 27, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY 008-18

InSight Briefings and Events


An artist's rendering of a rocket launching with the InSight spacecraft later this May.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's next mission to Mars - the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport spacecraft (InSight) - is scheduled to launch as early as Saturday, May 5, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight's liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 is targeted for 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) at the opening of a two-hour launch window, making it also the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast.

Launch coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency's website at 3:30 a.m. PDT.

Спойлер

InSight will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, were and are created.

Launching on the same rocket as InSight is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). These two mini-spacecraft are the first test of miniaturized CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate  (SMD) in Washington. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. The MarCOs were built by JPL, which manages InSight and MarCO for NASA. They were funded by both JPL and NASA's SMD.

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...

L-2 Day (Thursday, May 3)

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

Спойлер

A prelaunch mission briefing will be held at 1 p.m. PDT at building 836 and air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Participants:

[/li]
• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters
• Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager at JPL
• Annick Sylvestre-Baron, deputy project manager for InSight seismometer investigation at France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales
• Philippe Lognonné – InSight seismometer investigation lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France
• Tilman Spohn, investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight
• Andrew Klesh, MarCO chief engineer at JPL
• Anne Marinan, MarCO systems engineer at JPL
• Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems
• Tim Dunn, launch director with NASA's Launch Services Program
• Scott Messer, ULA program manager for NASA launches
• Col. Michael Hough, commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg
• 1st Lt. Kristina Williams, weather officer for the 30th Space Wing
  

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L-0 Day (Saturday, May 5)

NASA TV Launch Coverage

NASA TV live launch coverage will begin at 3:30 a.m. PDT. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit https://www.nasa.gov/live.
...

NASA Web Prelaunch and Launch Coverage

Prelaunch and launch day coverage of InSight will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning at 3:30 a.m. as the countdown milestones occur. ... You can follow countdown coverage on our launch blog at https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/.

Last Updated: April 28, 2018
Editor: Linda Herridge

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-sets-sights-on-may-5-launch-of-insight-mars-mission

April 28, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-071

NASA Sets Sights on May 5 Launch of InSight Mars Mission


Illustration of NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight)
Credits: NASA

NASA's next mission to Mars, Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight), is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 5, on a first-ever mission to study the heart of Mars. Coverage of prelaunch and launch activities begins Thursday, May 3, on NASA Television and the agency's website.

InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch at 7:05 a.m. EDT (4:05 a.m. PDT) from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

Launching on the same rocket is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO consists of two mini-spacecraft and will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications.

NASA TV and online mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Thursday, May 3

4 p.m. – Prelaunch Briefing

[/li]
• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters
• Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager at JPL
• Annick Sylvestre-Baron, deputy project manager for the InSight seismometer investigation at France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales
• Philippe Lognonné, InSight seismometer investigation lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France
• Tilman Spohn, investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight
• Andrew Klesh, MarCO chief engineer at JPL
• Anne Marinan, MarCO systems engineer at JPL
• Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space
• Tim Dunn, launch director with NASA's Launch Services Program
• Scott Messer, ULA program manager for NASA launches
• Col. Michael Hough, commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg
• 1st Lt. Kristina Williams, weather officer for the 30th Space Wing
  

Saturday, May 5

6:30 a.m. – Launch coverage begins.

7:05 a.m. – Launch time

Спойлер

Public Launch Viewing

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InSight will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, were and are created.

JPL manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver.

Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and Germany's DLR, are supporting the mission.

ULA, of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. The Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. ...

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Last Updated: April 28, 2018
Editor: Karen Northon

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/29/photos-nasas-insight-lander-buttoned-up-for-trip-to-mars/

Photos: NASA's InSight lander buttoned up for trip to Mars
April 29, 2018 | Stephen Clark


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.

These photos show InSight's heat shield, measuring around 8.7 feet (2.6 meters) in diameter, being lifted onto the spacecraft's back shell April 12 to enclose the lander for the trip to Mars. The heat shield and back shell will protect the probe during descent through the Martian atmosphere.

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Once fully assembled in its cruise configuration — with fixed solar array wings to provide electricity during the nearly seven-month journey to Mars — the 1,530-pound (694-kilogram) InSight spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket's payload fairing April 16.

The shroud measures around 13 feet, or 4 meters, in diameter and will jettison from the Atlas 5 rocket approximately four-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.

InSight and its payload fairing were transported from a payload processing clean room to Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg on April 23. A crane hoisted the payload on top of the Atlas 5 rocket inside the launch pad's mobile gantry, capping assembly of the 188-foot-tall (57-meter) launcher.

Liftoff is set for May 5 during a two-hour launch window opening at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT). The mission has until June 8 to depart Earth during this year's Mars launch period, or else wait until mid-2020.

Landing on Mars is scheduled for Nov. 26, when InSight will deploy a parachute and fire braking rockets to touch down on a broad equatorial plain named Elysium Planitia to begin studying the red planet's seismic activity and probing its interior structure.


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Tony Vauclin


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Tony Vauclin


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Aaron Taubman


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Aaron Taubman


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Aaron Taubman


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Daniel Herrera


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Daniel Herrera


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Daniel Herrera


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: NASA


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/insight/2018/05/01/launch-week-begins-with-flight-readiness-review-dress-rehearsal/

Launch Week Begins with Flight Readiness Review, Dress Rehearsal

Linda Herridge
Posted May 1, 2018 at 2:00 pm

Launch week is underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where NASA's InSight spacecraft is being prepared for its upcoming flight to Mars. Mission and launch officials gathered Monday for the InSight flight readiness review. Teams are preparing to launch InSight on its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Saturday, May 5, at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT).

Prelaunch activities continue today as launch team members take part in a countdown dress rehearsal.

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InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the Red Planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars' formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France's space agency, the Centre National d'Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

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Jared‏ @jared_delvalle 21 ч.21 час назад

#NewProfilePic @torybruno @ulalaunch GO #Insight

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ULA‏Подлинная учетная запись @ulalaunch 22 ч. назад

It's launch week for @NASAInSight! Launch on #AtlasV is planned for 4:05amPDT on Saturday, May 5. Are you in SoCal? Here's where the launch may be visible for you.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/01/managers-clear-insight-for-launch-after-heat-shield-review/

Managers clear InSight for launch after heat shield review
May 1, 2018 | Stephen Clark


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 for the space agency's Mars 2020 rover, InSight's chief scientist said Monday.

Managers who participated in a flight readiness review Monday gave approval for ground teams to continue InSight launch preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff on an Atlas 5 rocket Saturday during a two-hour window opening at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT).

Engineers took an extra look at data gathered during tests of the InSight lander's heat shield after a separate team discovered a circumferential fracture last month in the heat shield for NASA's Mars 2020 mission.

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NASA ordered the construction of a new heat shield for the Mars 2020 mission, which aims to place a rover on the red planet, and the replacement should be ready in time for the rover's planned July 2020 launch date, agency officials said.

But InSight, ferrying a suite of seismic and heat flow instruments to the red planet, was less than a month fr om launch when engineers found the crack in the Mars 2020 heat shield. The stationary InSight lander carries a thermal protection shell around half the size of Mars 2020's heat shield, and with key design differences, but InSight was built by Lockheed Martin, the same contractor in charge of the Mars 2020 heat shield.

"Our heat shield is not very similar to Mars 2020's, but of course, we use some of the same processes and some of the same designs," said Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "When they had that issue, we went back, re-looked at all of our test data, and made sure that the tests we did were the appropriate tests, and that they would have presumably found the same kind of issue."

Banerdt said Monday that engineers examined photo documentation and inspection reports to "double- and triple-check" InSight's heat shield, making sure teams did not overlook a problem during construction and pre-flight ground testing.

Ground crews were unable to do another inspection of InSight's 8.7-foot-diameter (2.6-meter) heat shield because the spacecraft was already in launch configuration. The spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket's payload fairing April 16, then mounted atop the launcher April 23.

"We did a complete review of our heat shield documentation," Banerdt said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. "At this time, of course, the heat shield is not accessible for inspection, so we didn't actually go back and re-inspect it, but we did go through the very extensive documentation we had from our testing.

"We double-checked all our testing to make sure that we did do a thorough test of mechanical properties, and it couldn't have slipped by without our noticing."

Banerdt said the news that Mars 2020's heat shield was damaged during testing got his attention, but engineers soon determined the problem would have no impact on InSight.

"I didn't have too much time to stew on it and build up a lot of anxiety," Banerdt said. "There are lots of issues like this."

Engineers are often reviewing hardware failures to ensure they do not affect other missions carrying similar components.

"You get these reports of some integrated circuit that's failed on an existing satellite," Banerdt offered as one example. "And you've got 50 of them in your spacecraft, and you have to figure out are they from the same lot? Has that been implicated? Are the uses that we have critical? Those kinds of things happen a lot.

"The longer you're on the ground, the more of those things that any space launch has to deal with," he said.

The heat shield review was "the last in a long line of those sorts of things," Banerdt said.

InSight has until June 8 to blast off and reach Mars in November. The roughly five-week launch period is fixed by the positions of Earth and Mars in their orbits around the sun.

The mission was originally slated to launch in March 2016, but NASA delayed the departure after trouble encountered during assembly and testing of InSight's seismometer instrument. Mars launch window's come every 26 months, so the next opportunity for InSight's liftoff opens May 5.

With the successful outcome of Monday's flight readiness review, United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 team and InSight engineers planned a final countdown dress rehearsal Tuesday. Final closeouts and cleaning of the InSight spacecraft are also planned early this week to ensure the probe meets NASA's planetary protection requirements, aimed at reducing the risk that the mission will carry microbes and other organic contamination from Earth to the Martian surface.

A launch readiness review scheduled for Thursday will assess the status of the Atlas 5 rocket, the InSight spacecraft, and ground tracking systems provided by NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

If the launch readiness review gives a green light to proceed, the Atlas 5 countdown will commence Friday evening, with retraction of the launch pad's mobile gantry scheduled shortly before midnight, local time.

Officials are hopeful for clear skies during Saturday's predawn launch window, and a clear view of the launch without the envelope of ground fog that often forms at Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is located on the Pacific coast northwest of Los Angeles.

"I hope we can put on a good show," Banerdt said. "I'm hoping we have some decent conditions to actually see the launch, and not just hear it out through the fog somewh ere."

InSight is the first mission to another planet to launch from Vandenberg, which typically hosts launches of satellites into polar orbit for Earth-imaging and communications.

NASA's previous interplanetary probes have historically launched from Cape Canaveral, using momentum provided by Earth's rotation for a velocity boost toward the east. But InSight is light enough that the Atlas 5 rocket will have plenty of reserve capability to send the probe toward Mars without the help from Earth's rotation.

Once it arrives on Mars in November, InSight will place its seismic instrument on the planet's surface to listen for quakes, and a heat sensor will burrow to a depth of nearly 16 feet, or about 5 meters, to measure thermal energy coming from the Martian interior.

Scientists hope to learn more about the planet's internal structure and composition, and use that information to refine their understanding of how rocky planets like Earth and Mars formed 4.5 billion years ago at the birth of the solar system.

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Tory Bruno‏Подлинная учетная запись @torybruno 4 ч. назад

Our 18th trip to Mars, but we just never get tired of going...

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Thomas Zurbuchen‏Подлинная учетная запись @Dr_ThomasZ 18 ч. назад

Mars will make its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on July 27, which is why we're launching @NASAInSight there on May 5. If you look in the morning sky this month, you might even see Mars. Get the details on that & other things you can see this May: https://go.nasa.gov/2HL4c1k 

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Marc Leatham‏ @quarkmarc 23 ч. назад

The internal guts of MarCO, the first interplanetary #Cubesat. Leaves Earth this weekend!

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NASA_LSP‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_LSP сейчас4 минуты назад


DYK: @NASAInSight will be the 1st interplanetary launch from the West Coast? All of @NASA's interplanetary launches have been from FL, the physics of launching off the East Coast are better for journeys to other planets. InSight will break the mold this Sat. by launching from CA.