What amazes me is; India can get a craft there, for less then $100 million.
We are still basically; throwing rocks.
Astronomy / Space Live coverage of InSight landing on Mars
- Thread starter Para Handy
- Start date
... and for not much more :
"Beagle 2 cost about $120 million, one-third of which was provided by the UK government." *
Mind you, it didn't deploy properly but at least it got on the surface without crashing.
* source: https://www.space.com/28286-europe-beagle-2-mars-lander-found.html
The Cubesat relays were a pretty nifty tech demo though.
https://spacenews.com/marco-success-vindicates-use-of-cubesats-on-deep-space-missions/
Although MarCO A and B (the first cubesats ever sent to another planet) don't have fuel for a long term orbit on this mission we got news of a safe touchdown in minutes, rather than the hours that message takes via the MRO.
They launched with the main payload which reduces costs and exo-applications include reconnaissance for future landing sites, gravity and magnetic field mapping, atmospheric and plume science as well as radiation measuring.
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2014/05/03/nasa-eyes-sending-cubesats-deep-space/
Love it.
OK: Sometimes; pretty rocks?
Hehe. Very pretty rocks.
Guess have to talk about something. I understand it's going to take several months for Insight to deploy instruments and launch "the mole". (Surely this has to be one of the best pieces of jargon ever sent to another world!)
Mars is surface mapped already iirc but an interesting mathematical exercise imo would be to work out how many Cubesats you'd need, what their altitudes would need to be (and therefore what resolution you could get) if you wanted to get a detailed radar map of any given moon of Saturn or Jupiter? (You'd need a minimum of 4 right? Equatorial obit, polar orbit, 45 degrees East and 45 degrees West?)
Ladies and Gentlecommanders, we have probes!
If you need just radar mapping and not 24/7 (or rotational equivalent of given body
) coverage, you only need ONE satelite in polar orbit. It can circle around and the planet/moon will rotate under it until you have complete surface, then just piece it together. 
... and for not much more :
"Beagle 2 cost about $120 million, one-third of which was provided by the UK government." *
Mind you, it didn't deploy properly but at least it got on the surface without crashing.
* source: https://www.space.com/28286-europe-beagle-2-mars-lander-found.html
The honor is intact.
Which is something I realised from Kerbal Space Program (and mods)If you need just radar mapping and not 24/7 (or rotational equivalent of given body
Which is something I realised from Kerbal Space Program (and mods)
Heheh. Sadly I can't play the KSP. Too static and frustrating. But I love watching Scott Manley and others playing it.
And do not forget the two nano-satellites "Wall-E" and "Eve", who accompanied InSight towards Mars and played the relay of communication successfully.
https://imgur.com/a/C5V7gof
https://imgur.com/a/C5V7gof
Be honest, who didn't shed a little tear when it looked like Wall-E had forgotten EVE near the end.
Cubesats are CUTE and that's that. Cutesats.
If you need just radar mapping and not 24/7 (or rotational equivalent of given body
Dashed clever. [up] o7
Haha, that tweet from DOOM. Priceless.
Then humanity needs to be encouraged in every way possible to feel an investment beyond our atmosphere.
This is my mission patch. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My name has traveled to Mars and lies for future generations to read the chip containing it once Mars has a tourist industry. It's passage has earned me 301,223,981 flyer points based on the journey it took.
I would encourage those who missed this opportunity, as I missed the Orion EFT-1, to seek future inclusion and watch for further boarding pass opportunities with NASA. Had I been with the game when this was offered I would have posted then to encourage others to join me.
It is heartening to see the interest in Mars has been revived as I hoped there would be a base there by now as promised in my childhood. May we live to see some of our eggs moved to another basket.
Spread the word; follow and tell all about the YouTube channels that popularise the subject like those by Issac Arthur and John Michael Godier to name but two. They make excellent background for lonely explorers as they speculate on astronomical and future science.
We can get there, so we must. It is the human way.
More about NASA Moon to Mars.
Mission patch not actual size because it is mine!
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Wouldn't think an astronomy thread will make me hungry.
I am voluntary for the first human mission towards Mars.
"Sound" of Martian wind from InSight.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/07/sounds-of-mars-wind-captured-by-nasas-insight-lander
The wind is estimated to be blowing at between 10 and 15mph. These are the first sounds from Mars that are detectable by human ears, according to the researchers.
“Capturing this audio was an unplanned treat,” said Bruce Banerdt, the InSight principal investigator at Nasa’s lab in Pasadena, California. “But one of the things our mission is dedicated to is measuring motion on Mars and naturally that includes motion caused by sound waves.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/07/sounds-of-mars-wind-captured-by-nasas-insight-lander
The wind is estimated to be blowing at between 10 and 15mph. These are the first sounds from Mars that are detectable by human ears, according to the researchers.
“Capturing this audio was an unplanned treat,” said Bruce Banerdt, the InSight principal investigator at Nasa’s lab in Pasadena, California. “But one of the things our mission is dedicated to is measuring motion on Mars and naturally that includes motion caused by sound waves.”
That's certainly some sensitive seismic equipment. The air pressure on Earh is about 1000 millibars? On Mars it's 6! So presumably even a strong gale there would feel like a light breeze here?
Even though it's only wind, the recording is extremely evocative to me at least.
-50 degrees in the daytime I don't know. Silly levels of UV I don't know. But wind? I get it.
Yes. We need resources there to do that.
spooky stuff
EDIT: I hope its like Bradbury Mars
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