The triumph of MarCO
The triumph of MarCO
The success of these ministries opens a new path in interplanetary exploration.
InSight rests already on the surface of Mars, with its solar panels deployed and charging batteries. Ahead they wait for several weeks to prepare the delicate maneuvers of deployment of their geological instruments, although if everything continues to work as accurately as it was its landing we can be sure that we have a story ahead of success. But she is not alone in this triumph. Accompanying him on his journey, escorting her as if they were a robotic escort, two tiny probes traveled with their own mission to fulfill. And they did it.
The Framework they were built as experimental vehicles to demonstrate that the CubeSats, hitherto limited to Earth orbit, could survive a trip to deep space, and therefore could be an extra resource in interplanetary exploration. And both fulfilled. After navigating behind InSight for seven months, they successfully transmitted the signal from the probe during its atmospheric crossing and landing. An extra mission, since the simple fact of reaching the fully operational red plant was already a triumph, but that was the icing on the cake.
Nicknamed "EVE" and "WALL-E", they provided an alternative way for engineers to supervise the landing. Actually it could be said that they were the protagonists, since they captured and radiated to the Earth all the trip of InSight with just 8 minutes of delay, which took the signal to reach our planet, faster than the older sisters in Martian orbit, who were not positioned to observe the whole event and send data immediately. "WALL-E and EVE worked just as we expected"explained MarCO chief engineer Andy Klesh of JPL"They were an excellent test of how CubeSats can serve as companions in future missions, giving engineers up-to-the-minute information"
Although the Framework they did not have scientific instruments, since they are test ships, that did not prevent the team from testing with them if the future CubeSats could perform scientific tasks. For example, EVE He conducted an impromptu study session with radio waves, transmitting signals through the edge of the atmosphere of Mars. The interference of the latter changed it when it was received in the Land, which will allow scientists to determine how much atmosphere is present and, to some extent, what it is made of."CubeSats has incredible potential to bring cameras and scientific instruments to deep space", explains John Baker, JPL program manager for small probes."They will never replace the more complex probes, but they are low cost vehicles that can allow us to explore in new ways"
As an additional reward, WALL-E it was programmed to rotate so that it could visualize the planet in a sequence of shots when it approached Mars.
After the landing of InSight He turned to take a farewell picture of the red planet. He also tried to take some pictures of Phobos Y Deimos. "He sent us some great postcards of Mars!", explains Cody Colley, mission manager of MarCO."It has been exciting to see the panorama from almost 1,600 kilometers above the surface"With the mission objectives achieved, the team will spend the coming weeks collecting additional data from each CubeSat. Of interest will be the amount of fuel left in each of them and the detailed analysis of how their retransmission capacity behaved. But his triumph is complete, and with that the doors open to endless possibilities. The future will bring us great things of these little giants.
Mission accomplished. The MarCO proved to be capable of surviving an interplanetary trip, so they could star in future missions, alone or accompanying larger probes.
They survived and fulfilled their extra mission, transmitting the InSight signal to Earth, something they did even more quickly than the Martian orbit probes being perfectly placed.
Small giantsNASA Hears MarCO CubeSats Loud and Clear from Mars
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