NASA begins construction of new Mars lander that will drill into planet
NASA and its partners will begin building a new Mars lander. Once it lands on the planet, the new lander will, among other things, drill into the ground to collect various kinds of data, such as how the crust, mantle and core of Mars are made up.
The lander is part of NASA’s InSight mission, due in March 2016. The mission’s goal is to gain more insight into the rocky planets of our solar system. NASA can then use the data from InSight for its manned missions to Mars, which should take place from 2030.
NASA says the lander’s plan passed the mission’s Design Review on Friday. Such a ‘review’ usually looks at aspects such as feasibility, quality of personnel, risks, budget and time schedule of a project. The construction of the lander is in the hands of aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The Phoenix lander launched in 2007 was used to develop the new three-legged lander, according to NASA. However, the two also differ. Stu Spath, leader of the InSight mission, says one of the reasons for this is that the new lander’s mission lasts 630 days longer than the Phoenix’s.
The new lander will land around the equator of Mars and will be equipped with a robotic arm for the research it will carry out that can place various digging and measuring instruments on the surface of the planet. The lander’s two main types of instruments, the robotic arm and the digging instruments, come from the space agencies of France and Germany.
The space agencies of Switzerland and the United Kingdom will build a seismograph for the mission, which can measure any ground vibration caused by marsquakes or meteorite impacts. The lander’s robotic arm will place a protective dome over the seismograph to minimize the impact of wind and temperature. Germany’s agency will also build an instrument that can detect and measure heat waves emanating from the planet’s core. The robotic arm ensures that the heat meter can dig itself in to a depth of 3 to 5 yards, or almost 3 to more than 4.5 meters.
There will also be an experiment using the radio link between InSight and NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas to detect irregularities in the rotation of Mars. This may allow scientists to determine whether the planet has a liquid or solid core. The Spanish space agency will build wind and thermometers for the lander, which will monitor wind speed and temperature at the landing site. They will also develop a magnetometer that can measure magnetic disturbances caused by the Martian ionosphere.