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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
"An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force
Base in California, carrying NASA’s first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars." "The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations. Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet’s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets." See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1I60DF |
#3
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
In article , says...
On May/6/2018 at 12:45 AM, wrote : "An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA?s first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars." "The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations. Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet?s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets." See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1I60DF Does anyone know why they are launching from the west coast? It seems to me to be not optimal for a Mars mission. To avoid launch congestion at Cape Canaveral and insure it was launched at the optimal time. Also, the version of Atlas had plenty of performance for the mission. InSight is only 800 lbs, so it's relatively light for a Mars mission. For comparison, the Mars Exploration Rover missions totaled 2343 lbs for each mission and were each launched on a "heavy" version of the Delta II: https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/spacecraft.html Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
On Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 11:50:27 AM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article , says... On May/6/2018 at 12:45 AM, wrote : "An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA?s first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars." "The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations. Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet?s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets." See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1I60DF Does anyone know why they are launching from the west coast? It seems to me to be not optimal for a Mars mission. To avoid launch congestion at Cape Canaveral and insure it was launched at the optimal time. Also, the version of Atlas had plenty of performance for the mission. InSight is only 800 lbs, so it's relatively light for a Mars mission. So did they launch it to the south or to the west? Going west they would incur a big energy penalty due to the rotation of the Earth. |
#5
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
In article ,
says... On Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 11:50:27 AM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote: In article , says... On May/6/2018 at 12:45 AM, wrote : "An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA?s first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars." "The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations. Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet?s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets." See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1I60DF Does anyone know why they are launching from the west coast? It seems to me to be not optimal for a Mars mission. To avoid launch congestion at Cape Canaveral and insure it was launched at the optimal time. Also, the version of Atlas had plenty of performance for the mission. InSight is only 800 lbs, so it's relatively light for a Mars mission. So did they launch it to the south or to the west? Going west they would incur a big energy penalty due to the rotation of the Earth. This info, and much more, is in the InSight Press Kit. Click on "Launch Sequences". It launched southward. West is even worse for performance than launching south. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_...sight/mission/ Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
#6
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
On Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 7:37:43 PM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article , says... On Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 11:50:27 AM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote: In article , says... On May/6/2018 at 12:45 AM, wrote : "An Atlas 5 rocket soared into space early on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA?s first robotic lander designed for exploring the deep interior of another planet on its voyage to Mars." "The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations. Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years - about one Martian year - plumbing the depths of the planet?s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets." See: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-s...-idUSKBN1I60DF Does anyone know why they are launching from the west coast? It seems to me to be not optimal for a Mars mission. To avoid launch congestion at Cape Canaveral and insure it was launched at the optimal time. Also, the version of Atlas had plenty of performance for the mission. InSight is only 800 lbs, so it's relatively light for a Mars mission. So did they launch it to the south or to the west? Going west they would incur a big energy penalty due to the rotation of the Earth. This info, and much more, is in the InSight Press Kit. Click on "Launch Sequences". It launched southward. West is even worse for performance than launching south. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_...sight/mission/ I knew that Vandenburg is used for polar orbit launches, and that westward would be used rarely if at all because of performance issues. As I suspected, they launched it to the south into a polar orbit, and after less than one orbit they headed for Mars. "The shape of the parking orbit is nearly circular at an altitude of 115 miles (185 kilometers). However, the spacecraft will not complete even one orbit. After the Centaur main engine's first burn, the Centaur-spacecraft stack will coast in the parking orbit until it reaches the proper position for start of the second Centaur burn [trajectory to Mars]." |
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