[ ♪ ]
The Mars Report
May 24, 2018
InSight
NASA's InSight lander launched
from Vandenberg Air Force Base
on May 5, 2018.
[rocket roars]
InSight is the first
interplanetary mission
to launch from the West Coast.
The spacecraft will reach Mars
on November 26, 2018
and begin its study of the Red
Planet's interior.
MarCO
Two CubeSats, called
Mars Cube One or MarCO,
rode along with InSight.
[ ♪ ]
The first image from
one of the CubeSats
shows its unfolded
high-gain antenna...
...and the Earth and its Moon.
[ ♪ ]
They have already gone farther
than any CubeSats
have gone before...
If they make it to Mars,
they'll attempt to transmit data
from InSight as it lands.
Mars 2020 Helicopter
NASA's Mars 2020 mission
will carry a stowaway -
a small, autonomous helicopter.
Designing a helicopter for
Mars' thin atmosphere
was a significant
engineering challenge...
...but recent testing in
a vacuum chamber
showed the impossible
had become possible.
It weighs just under 4 pounds
(1.8 kilograms)
and has counter-rotating blades
that move 10 times the rate of
helicopters on Earth.
Curiosity Rover
NASA's Curiosity rover drilled
through Mars' surface
to produce the first rock sample
in over a year.
Engineers have been
working to restore
the rover's drill
since December 2016.
Using a new percussive
drilling technique
Curiosity bored a hole
about 2 inches deep.
Now engineers will work on
getting the samples
from the drill bit to the two
laboratories inside the rover.
For more information on
all our Mars missions:
https://mars.nasa.gov
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute
of Technology
