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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 |
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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. |
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
In article ,
says... On 2018-05-06 15:19, Scott M. Kozel wrote: 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. Could they launch straight up, and once above some safe altitude, then veer east? There is no "safe altitude" to do something as bone headed as this. After having flown for X seconds, aren't the odds of an explosion way down and thus considered safe to fly over land? No. Failures could happen at any time (e.g. engine failure). or is the eastward speed from earth's rotation lost as you ascend straight up (lost to atmospheric drag) ? Ugh. Just read the press kit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_...sight/mission/ #launch_sequences 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. |
#7
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches fromCalifornia.
On May/6/2018 at 3:47 PM, JF Mezei wrote :
On 2018-05-06 15:19, Scott M. Kozel wrote: 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. Could they launch straight up, and once above some safe altitude, then veer east? After having flown for X seconds, aren't the odds of an explosion way down and thus considered safe to fly over land? It could be done. But it would be less efficient than going south for a polar orbit how much less efficient depends on how high up one goes before going east. And you would probably have to go very high up if you have a conservative definition of when it is possible to over fly populated land in a safe manner. or is the eastward speed from earth's rotation lost as you ascend straight up (lost to atmospheric drag) ? No the eastward speed is not loss, the atmosphere rotates with Earth so atmospheric drag won't cancel the eastward speed. You don't lose eastward speed but you have big gravity losses. Once you achieve orbital speed horizontally you no longer have to spend fuel just to stay up and you don't have gravity loses any more. You want to get to that point as fast as possible. But by going up first than accelerate horizontally, it takes more time to reach orbital velocity horizontally and you have more gravity loses. Alain Fournier |
#8
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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]." |
#9
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First NASA lander to study Mars' interior launches from California.
JF Mezei wrote on Sun, 6 May 2018
15:47:17 -0400: On 2018-05-06 15:19, Scott M. Kozel wrote: 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. Could they launch straight up, and once above some safe altitude, then veer east? After having flown for X seconds, aren't the odds of an explosion way down and thus considered safe to fly over land? No. or is the eastward speed from earth's rotation lost as you ascend straight up (lost to atmospheric drag) ? No. But 'launching straight up' is generally stupid, since it does nothing insofar as getting you into orbit goes. The only reason they start out largely straight up is to get above most of the atmosphere quickly. -- "Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory." --G. Behn |
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