we sent a lot of missions to Mars in the
past we sent Rovers we've sent orbiters
but they and they've done a lot of
really really great science and a lot of
really interesting measurements but
those measurements just scratched the
surface of Mars we know a lot about the
surface of Mars we know a lot about its
atmosphere and even about its ion
asphere but we don't know very much
about what goes on a mile below the
surface much less 2,000 miles below the
surface down to the center and this will
be the first mission that's going to
mars specifically to investigate the
huge extent of mars below the surface
insight is is almost ready to launch and
it's going to do going to Mars that do
the science to make the measurements
that scientifically and personally I've
been waiting for over 30 years for as a
graduate student I was doing research on
Mars and I just needed to have the
thickness of the crust that's I just
needed the thickness of the crust and we
didn't have it with and in seismology
was the way to go do it and so I thought
well maybe someday somebody will put a
seismometer on Mars and get this
measurement so I can do my research and
so it's kind of a an amazing journey for
me to look back and say I'm the guy
who's actually going to put that
seismometer on Mars get that information
and now I can go back and finish the job
I was trying to do 30 years ago it's
it's an amazing feeling
insite carries a seismometer which
measures the seismic waves that have
traveled through Mars from from mars
quakes and maps out the deep interior
structure of mars it has a heat flow
probe that goes down 15 feet and
measures the amount of heat coming out
of the planet to understand the vigor of
its geological engine and it has a radio
science experiment which uses the radio
on the spacecraft to measure very small
variations in the wobble of Mars as Pole
to understand more about the structure
and composition of the core
the insight mission will be the very
first mission to launch from Vandenberg
Air Force Base on the west coast
typically these launches have always
gone from the East Coast insight will be
the very first mission to robotically
deploy instruments from the spacecraft
deck to the surface of another planet
this plant Mars inside will also be the
very first mission to land and survive
for a full Martian year which is to Mars
to earth years with just solar rays in
sight will also be the very first
mission to give Mars a check up in four
and a half billion years
the primary mission is planned to be one
Mars year which is about two earth years
however there's no limitations to our
lifetime so we could last as long as
we're getting power from the solar rays
as long as Mars is behaving itself we'll
be able to survive and we'll continue to
get the scientific data back that the
scientists have been craving for such a
long time
insite will launch from Vandenberg Air
Force Base after that insight goes on a
six and a half month cruise to get to
Mars it's on a direct trajectory so
we'll get there pretty quick as fast as
you can get to Mars once we get to Mars
then we go through what we call the
entry descent and landing or as we like
to say EDL we go through that process
which is about seven minutes we go from
about 12,500 miles per hour to zero in
12 minutes which is incredibly fast we
use a variety of techniques to slow us
down as we enter the atmosphere first we
have an ablative material on our heat
shield which protects us from the first
part of the atmosphere where we're going
the fastest that slows us down we're
still at a supersonic speed when we
deploy our parachute the parachute
further slows us down when we get closer
to the ground then we start acquiring
data from our radar or landing radar
then we know that we can drop the
parachute and we can do a propulsive
landing down to the surface and we'll be
going about five miles an hour when we
touch down on the surface
insight is the first interplanetary
launch from Vandenberg and so everyone's
really excited to be so close to home
just able to walk go up watch the launch
and know that we're sending something
straight from California tomorrow
going to Mars never gets old this is the
third Mars mission that I've worked on
and I'm still just as excited about it
still excited to see that first image
that we get down from inside on landing
day it's gonna be a different place in
Mars I mean how many places have have we
really seen on another on another planet
the most fun or interesting thing about
about insight from an engineer's point
of view is really that we're playing the
claw game super far away on Mars
we're taking this grapple and we're
gonna pick up an instrument and lift it
up off the deck and put it down on Mars
so I like to say that we're playing the
claw game on Mars with no joystick
