InSight Landing on Mars. Live Broadcast

The landing broadcast has started. The landing is in 30 minutes (from this writing).

NASA TV

Interesting comment from the people an on the broadcast: InSight WILL be able to phone home that it landed safely, but by the time it unfurls its solar panels (which is very important, since it is 100% solar powered), the communications relay satellites around Mars will no longer be in position, so NASA will have to wait 5 1/2 hours for the relay satellites to be back in position for them to know if the solar Panel unfurled properly.


Here's another live stream, this one from FOX News (although it seems to be the same as the NASA TV feed):

The "seven munites from hell" (the time between hitting the atmosphere and landing) begins at 2:47 pm EST (19:47 UTC). Touchdown is 2:54 pm EST (19:54 UTC). The "I'm alive" signal from InSight is expected by 3:01 pm EST (20:01 UTC).

Here is the full landing procedure timeline from NASA:

- 11:40 a.m. PST (2:40 p.m. EST) — Separation from the cruise stage that carried the mission to Mars
- 11:41 a.m. PST (2:41 p.m. EST) — Turn to orient the spacecraft properly for atmospheric entry
- 11:47 a.m. PST (2:47 p.m. EST) — Atmospheric entry at about 12,300 mph (19,800 kph), beginning the entry, descent and landing phase
- 11:49 a.m. PST (2:49 p.m. EST) — Peak heating of the protective heat shield reaches about 2,700°F (about 1,500°C)
- 15 seconds later — Peak deceleration, with the intense heating causing possible temporary dropouts in radio signals
- 11:51 a.m. PST (2:51 p.m. EST) — Parachute deployment
- 15 seconds later — Separation from the heat shield
- 10 seconds later — Deployment of the lander's three legs
- 11:52 a.m. PST (2:52 p.m. EST) — Activation of the radar that will sense the distance to the ground
- 11:53 a.m. PST (2:53 p.m. EST) — First acquisition of the radar signal
- 20 seconds later — Separation from the back shell and parachute
- 0.5 second later — The retrorockets, or descent engines, begin firing
- 2.5 seconds later — Start of the "gravity turn" to get the lander into the proper orientation for landing
- 22 seconds later — InSight begins slowing to a constant velocity (from 17 mph to a constant 5 mph, or from 27 kph to 8 kph) for its soft landing
- 11:54 a.m. PST (2:54 p.m. EST) — Expected touchdown on the surface of Mars
- 12:01 p.m. PST (3:01 p.m. EST) — "Beep" from InSight's X-band radio directly back to Earth, indicating InSight is alive and functioning on the surface of Mars
- No earlier than 12:04 p.m. PST (3:04 p.m. EST), but possibly the next day — First image from InSight on the surface of Mars
- No earlier than 5:35 p.m. PST (8:35 p.m. EST) — Confirmation from InSight via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter that InSight's solar arrays have deployed

They have that pretty young chick in every shot. You know what that means....

NASA is SEXIST!

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
Nice! It's always good to see some science is still brought to ATS. Thanks, you do you Soylent.

Cruise stage successfully separated. Spacecraft was turned so the heat shield is pointing the right way

Next milestone is atmospheric entry. Soon.

Tense stuff!

Watching now.
Very cool.
2;55 touch down confirmed!

The MarCO Cubesats (MarCO A and B) are working -- two satellites launched with InSight that is meant to act as a communication relay. this was a working experiment of sorts by NASA for possible future use.

They are successfully relaying data from InSight.


As I mentioned in the OP, the MarCO satellites will be in range to relay the "I'm alive" signal, but will be out of range when Insight is meant to deploy its solar panels after landing. NASA will need to wait 5 1/2 hours for the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO) to be in the right position to relay the signal from InSight confirming that the solar panels have deployed.

Another piece of kit on Mars Fantastic.

Successful landing. Awaiting the signal from InSght telling NASA that it's OK. This is a "beep" that comes directly from Insight and is picked up by Earth-based ground antennae.

Managed to get a screenshot of the first photo. The dirt is on a dust cover that will come off.

originally posted by: OneBigMonkeyToo
Managed to get a screenshot of the first photo. The dirt is on a dust cover that will come off.

On the video the commentator said 'blueish sky'. mmm I though Mars wasn't supposed to have any atmosphere.

Then there was the volcano a few weeks ago with clouds of vapour drifting at a fixed height. 'clouds / vapour'???

Fascinating

a reply to: YesTodayTomorrow

It does have an atmosphere, it's just very thin.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That was awesome.

Those people were so happy. Must feel good to put such a long plan into action and see it bare fruit.

Thanks for this thread.

a reply to: YesTodayTomorrow

Mars has an atmosphere it's just very very thin.
www.space.com...

Now let me blow your mind and show you that even the moon has an atmosphere.
www.nasa.gov...

Why did the pic change from having blue sky's and a visible landscape, to this brown brown sky? Almost like a filter has been applied

a reply to: samuelsson

There is a dust filter on it right now. The pics that come later should be after it's removed.

I didn't see the blue sky ???

Or are you talking about the pics at that link I posted?

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Maan that was fast.. Im trying to find the thread. I saw this posted on here i think. Saw it on the evening news, this picture im posting in a much better resolution.

m.imgur.com...

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

The President mentioned the Landing Today at his Rally in Mississippi . It is Now being Reported by CNN that If there is ANY FORM of Intelligent Life on the Planet Mars , they More than Likely Hate Donald Trump . Identify or Die....

MAGA !


(((+)))

a reply to: samuelsson

The sand filter is still on the lens in that photo.

See all the dirt . Once the filter is removed it will be clear.

The change in color is probably because of how the light is hitting the sand filter. Just a guess.