[dramatic music]
- Welcome to NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California,
I'm Veronica McGregor.
 We are just one day away
 from our InSight spacecraft
 meeting the atmosphere of Mars
to begin the event that we call
 entry, descent, and
 landing, or EDL.
 It's a nail biting,
 six and a half minutes
  where numerous things have
  to take place perfectly
  in order for us to go from
  thousands of miles an hour
to a gentle, safe landing speed.
  Our speakers today are
  gonna describe everything
 that must go right
 during those minutes.
They're also going to talk about
how we'll be getting
our communications back
  from InSight down to Earth
  so we know the progress
 of the spacecraft, and we're
 gonna talk a little bit
 about the science that
 will be the reward
  from this mission
  getting to Mars.
  Now, before we get
  to our speakers,
 I just want to tell
 everybody right now
  to please bookmark
  a couple websites
  so that you can come
  back and join us tomorrow
  during the landing event.
  You can go to
  go.nasa.gov/InSightToolkit
to get a list of every platform
  where we will be streaming
  the commentary live.
 We will begin commentary
 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time,
2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
That will give you many
ways that you can enjoy
 multiple streams
 of full commentary,
 clean feeds, and even
 a 360 degree broadcast
 from inside InSight
 mission control,
 so you can feel
 like you're in there
  with the rest of the team.
  And also, nasa.gov/live,
  that's an even simpler URL
  to remember, all
  of our programming
 is always broadcast
 to that website.
  Now, following our speaker
  presentations today,
 we are gonna take questions
 from the audience here.
 We have media, and we also
 have social media followers
here today, thank you
so much for joining us.
 If you are calling
 in on the phone line,
 please remember to hit star,
 one, and that will put you
 in the queue for questions.
 If you are joining
 us on social media,
  you can send us a question
  by using hashtag askNASA,
  and we'll be going
  to those questions
later in the broadcast.
  And for now, I'm
  going to introduce
our first speaker today,
it is Thomas Zurbuchen
He is the NASA
Associate Administrator
 for the Science
 Mission Directorate.
 Welcome.
 [audience applauding]
 - Hey, thanks.
 What an exciting day.
I mean, I almost can't
wait, I'm really excited
 to go land this thing,
 but as we do this,
of course, I stand
back, and as the leader
 of NASA Science
 Mission Directorate,
I think of the risk
and reward that is part
of every one of these missions.
 To go to space
 always carries risks.
  We don't go take that risk
  because we're risk junkies
and jump off airplanes.
 Some of us do, but,
 [audience laughing]
  most of us don't,
  we take the risk
  because it takes that
  risk to have that reward,
the reward that has
opened our understanding
  of worlds near and
  far, the reward
 that has transformed not only
 how we think about nature,
 but has really
 opened up the world
 in which we live and think in.
 And so, whenever we
 look at that risk,
  kind of, Mars stands tall
  in that risk distribution.
And to talk about Mars,
  we recognize that we never
  take Mars for granted.
 Mars is hard.
  And so, on the first
  chart here are the landers
and rovers that we've
landed here out of NASA.
You see the ones, you
recognize many of them,
 and of course, they're
 all the landers
 that humanities, and
 rovers, that humanity
 has ever landed
 successfully on Mars.
 Each one of them with
 the same kind of sweat
 and worry that I have right
 now in my stomach area.
 And of course, the one
 there at the bottom,
we hope, of course, will
increase our likelihood,
 our batting average,
 to you, Jeff,
 on Mars landers and rovers.
 Now, when I think about this,
 it's important to look
 at this in a context
of all missions that we
see on the second chart.
All missions, you don't
really have to look at
any one of those, but
you see all these names,
 that's all the missions that
 have ever been sent to Mars,
 orbiters, landers, and rovers,
 and these are the ones
 that were successful.
 Less than half of the
 words that were there
at the beginning are now there,
 so we're, of course, worried,
 and what I ask myself,
 did we do everything that we
 could to support the team,
  and having met the team
  and meeting with the team,
 the answer to that is
 yes, and we're pulling
for the team, right now.
  For me, the hardest thing
  is to sit on my hands,
because there's nothing I can do
to make the team more successful
  other than standing there
  and hoping and praying
  that everything is
  gonna be just fine
 because they're doing exactly
 what they're supposed to do.
And I'm just so excited
to be part of that team,
and hopefully, as we go through
 these seven minutes of terror,
  kind of increasing
  the likelihood
 of humanity to
 actually land on Mars
  with this amazing vehicle
  that is out there,
  ready to land and
  that will, again,
transform our knowledge
of this amazing planet
that's right next to us.
 And to introduce
 us to this mission,
  I'm happy to welcome now,
  Tom Hoffman on stage,
 a project manager of InSight.
 Tom, take it away.
 [audience applauding]
 - Thank you so much, Thomas.
So, as many people
have, for Thanksgiving,
 you have your family
 around, and luckily,
 I was fortunate enough to have
 my three grandsons around,
  Connor, Declan,
  and Evan, and boy,
 when they get excited, they
 run around like crazy men,
 raising their hands,
 yelling, screaming,
  carrying on, and I
  have to tell you,
 inside of me right now, I'm
 just about that same way.
 [audience laughing]
I'm gonna control
myself as well as I can,
  until we get a
  first notification
of successful landing,
but just to warn anybody
  who's sitting near
  me after that,
  I'm gonna unleash my inner
  four year old on you,
 so be careful.
 [audience laughing]
So as Thomas said,
though, landing on Mars
is never a foregone conclusion,
and less than half of the times
 we've tried to
 either get into orbit
or land on Mars, we have
not been successful.
 So you might ask
 yourself, why is that?
 We've tried a lot, why
 is this not simple,
  easy thing that we
  can do every day?
 So we go to the first graphic,
 I can give you a little
 bit of explanation of that.
 So on the Earth, we
 have a very large
  gravitational field, but
  we have a thick atmosphere
 that's very big, so we
 can actually dissipate
 the energy for entry
 vehicles pretty easily
with that thick
atmosphere, and usually,
 can get a good soft landing,
 usually in the ocean,
 for Apollo, at least.
 The Moon, on the other hand,
 doesn't have much of
 a gravitational pull,
  and it has not atmosphere,
  so that makes it a little
  bit easier, as well,
  to land on the Moon using
  propulsive technology.
 Mars is basically the
 worst of both worlds.
 We have an atmosphere
 that's about 1%
 of the Earth's
 atmosphere, and yet,
we have a gravitational
field that's about 1/3
 of the pull of Earth,
 and so what that means
is we have very little
energy in the atmosphere
that we can dissipate as
we enter the atmosphere,
 we have very little
 ability to slow down
 until we get to the surface,
so it makes it very challenging
 for us to land on Mars, and
 that's one of the main reasons
 why it is very challenging.
 We've done everything we can,
 we've done everything
 we can think of
 to make sure that we're
 gonna be successful tomorrow,
but you just never know
what's gonna happen.
  But let's explain
  a little bit about
 what is gonna happen tomorrow,
  but first, we launched in
  May, fifth of this year,
 from the Vandenberg
 Air Force Base,
 the very first
 time we've launched
inter-planetary mission
from California.
Very exciting, not very visible,
 but still very exciting event.
 Since then, we've
 been doing a series
of checkouts of the engineering,
the science instruments
to make sure
 that we're fully ready
 once we go through EDL
 and once we get to the
 surface and start the science.
Everything's ready to
go, all those checkouts
  have gone very well, we've
  also been doing things
 called trajectory correction
 maneuvers, or TCMs.
 And what those are designed
 to do is first get us pointed
at Mars, the first
couple ones that we did
 pointed us directly at Mars.
We weren't pointed
there when we launched.
  After that, the last
  couple have been designed
 to get us to a
 very specific point
in the upper atmosphere
that will get us
 to a very specific
 point on the ground.
 So let's run the
 video, and we can see
 what we've been
 doing since we, okay,
  since we landed, okay, so
  here is our target area,
 right here, this is
 where we wanna land,
 at Elysium Planitia,
  after our TCM number
  five, we were right here.
  You can see what
  the date is, here,
  I'm sorry, this
  is after TCM four.
  You can see what
  the date is here,
  and I'm not gonna,
  don't run it yet,
 but when it starts running,
what you'll see is this ellipse,
 this is our landing ellipse,
  it's gonna start moving
  around just a little bit.
 What that is is the
 DSN is tracking us,
  we're getting very
  good information
 about where we're gonna land,
  so it moves around
  just a little bit
  as our knowledge improves.
 After we did the TCM,
 on November 18th,
 you'll see that we
 suddenly leap up here,
 very close to where we
 want to be with our target.
What's gonna happen is,
then it's gonna start
moving around a little bit more,
 again, as we've gotten
 more tracking data,
 we know that we're getting
 closer and closer to target.
So let's go ahead and run that,
  and that's what
  you're gonna see.
  So you can see it's moving
  around just a little bit,
our knowledge is getting better,
 it's not really the
 spacecraft changing,
it's just our knowledge
getting better.
  So after TCM five,
  we ended up here,
 which is not quite
 exactly on the red X.
  We're about 11 miles away.
 We moved 109 miles
 with that TCM five,
we're still about 11 miles away,
so just this morning we
had a decision meeting,
 whether we were gonna
 perform our last
 trajectory correction
 maneuver or not,
 and we decided at
 6:00 a.m. that yes,
  indeed, we're gonna do it.
  We want to avoid
  the area up here.
That's not a great area to land,
 so we want to move
 down to this target,
  so we're gonna be
  performing that
  a few hours from
  now, and hopefully
 within a few hours after that,
  we're gonna know exactly
  where we're landing again,
  so things should
  be in good shape.
 So when we actually get there,
 after completing the TCM,
  we will be looking
  exactly like this.
 This is what our spacecraft
 looks like today.
We have the cruise stage
here, and the aeroshell
 is on this side, we're gonna
 be in this configuration
until about seven minutes
before we enter the atmosphere.
 At that point, we'll say
 goodbye to the cruise stage,
  we'll say a thank
  you for getting us
a nice ride to Mars,
you're on your own now.
 This will go into that Mars
 atmosphere and burn up,
and then we will be left
with just the aeroshell,
  so this, inside
  of this aeroshell
 is our lander that's tucked
 in there very safely,
 we have a heat
 shield on this side.
 As we enter the atmosphere,
 that heat shield
 is gonna dissipate about 90%
 of the energy that we have
 as it enters the atmosphere,
 eventually slowing us down
 to about 850 miles an
 hour, at which point,
 we'll pop a parachute,
 that parachute
 will then slow us about 90%
 of the remaining energy down,
and then we will
get to the point
where the lander takes
over, so let's go ahead
 and run the video,
 and we can show that
  a little clearer, so
  there's our cruise stage.
 Goodbye, cruise stage,
 you're on your own.
The rest of the aeroshell
starts to enter the atmosphere,
it heats up to about
3,000 degrees Fahrenheit
 in certain areas on
 that heat shield.
  That's gonna dissipate a
  fair amount of the energy,
  getting us to the point
  where we feel comfortable
  popping the parachute,
  but we're still doing that
  at a supersonic
  speed, and so that
  is a very exciting
  moment for us,
to make sure that we
get that parachute out.
 As we descend further, we'll
 let go of that heat shield.
You can now see the
lander inside of there.
 The legs will deploy, we'll
 start collecting radar data
 using an F-16 like
 radar to figure out
  what our altitude and
  our relative velocity is.
 We'll free fall for
 just a little bit,
  which is a absolutely
  terrifying thought for me,
 but, I've been told
 our descent thrusters
 will then start
 firing perfectly well,
slowing us down to about
five miles an hour,
 once we finally get to
 the surface of Mars.
 So, within about six
 and a half minutes,
 we've gone from
 12,300 miles an hour,
 as we entered the atmosphere,
 to just five miles an hour
 as we land safely on
 the surface of Mars.
 And where we're
 gonna land is a place
 called Elysium Planitia,
 which very roughly translated
  means heavenly
  plain, and indeed,
 it is a very heavenly
 plain, and it is very plain,
 but it is actually
 perfect, it's safe,
 it's a great place,
 not only to land,
 it's a great place to do the
 science that we wanna do.
 So when we first land, we're
 gonna get a picture back,
  hopefully right away,
  it's probably not gonna be
 a very good picture, so
 don't get your expectations
 up too high, and there'll be
 a little bit of the picture
that's actually
missing, the reason is,
is we have a dust cover,
and that dust cover's
  gonna be absorbing
  a lot of the dust
that gets kicked up
from the landing event,
 and then, with our
 overflight of MarCO and MRO,
 we're only gonna get
 a part of that image.
Eventually though, we're
gonna get an image back
that looks something like this.
 Not the most
 exciting place to be,
  but, again, it's
  a very safe place,
 and in fact, I'm very hopeful
 that we have even less
 rocks, it's even more sandy,
 and even more, dare
 I say boring, okay?
 But indeed, that's
 what I'm hoping for,
but before we get there,
we have to go through
  our entry, descent, and
  landing, and so we do that
up in the mission support area,
 and I have a friend of mine up
 in the mission support area,
 Julie Wertz Chen,
 who is up there now.
  Hopefully she can come
  on, Julie, are you there?
- I'm here, Tom.
- Okay, great.
  - You're in a very
  historic place.
Can you tell us a little
bit about where you are?
 - Sure, this is the Critical
 Events Mission Support Area.
 It was originally
 built in around 2000,
  in order for teams
  to come together
  to watch critical events.
 We first used the room in
 2001 for the orbit insertion
  for Mars Odyssey,
  and we've used it
 to watch all critical
 or major events
for every outer planets mission
 that JPL has flown since then.
 You might very well
 recognize this room
from the MER landings,
Mars Exploration Rovers,
Spirit and Opportunity,
or from Deep Impact's
 comet encounter, or from
 the last successful landing
on Mars, Curiosity, six
years ago, or of course,
 the very emotional Cassini
 Grand Finale, just last year.
This room has been the backdrop
 to numerous really
 really exciting events
 in planetary
 exploration history,
and we're really excited
to add to that list
 with InSight's landing
 on Mars tomorrow.
 - Wow, that's great.
  Can you tell me a
  little bit about
 what the people will
 be doing in there,
 landing day tomorrow?
 - Yeah, so the very back row
 will have some NASA management
 and some project management,
 so Tom, yourself
 and Bruce and Thomas
 will all be in that back row.
 Up here in this row will be
 more of the project people,
 so on the very far end of this
 row will be the navigators.
They're the ones
who have told us
how to get to exactly
where we are right now.
Next to them along this
row will be a subset
 of the entry,
 descent and landing
  systems engineering team.
 We're the folks who
 have really focused in
 on this phase of the mission,
have really spent years
getting all the details
 of these couple of
 minutes just right.
 And then, as you come up here,
  here, more of the people
  who are gonna be focusing
on communication during landing,
so radio science people
will be right there.
 They are the ones who
 are eavesdropping in
  on our signal from all the
  way back here on earth,
 trying to tell us some very
 basic state information,
 from all the way back here.
 The MarCO engineers,
 the CubeSets,
will be over there,
and they'll, of course,
 be trying to relay our very
 detailed InSight telemetry
to us and then right in
the middle of everybody,
 right here, is Sandy Krasner,
 he's someone to keep
 an eye on tomorrow,
'cause he's our EDL
communications engineer,
 and he'll really be the one
 who's coordinating everything
 to try and get that data from
 the lander up to the orbiters,
 back here to earth, and onto
 these wonderful work stations.
  - Oh, that's cool.
  Now, since it's just you
  and me talking right now.
 [audience laughing]
 Sh, can you maybe give
 me a sneak preview
 of some of the data displays
 that you're gonna be
 looking at tomorrow?
- Sure, just between
you and me, no problem.
We'll be looking at lots
of different things.
 I think you're
 looking at a snapshot
 of one of the telemetry pages
 that we'll be looking at.
 You can see, up in
 the left hand side,
 we get short messages
 from the spacecraft
 that tell us where in the
 sequence we are, of events,
you can also see, over
on the right hand side,
  that there's a lot of data
 that just isn't
 even filled in yet,
 and that's because we haven't
 started the EDL sequence yet,
  so all of that will
  start filling in tomorrow
 when we start doing
 this, and of course,
we'll be looking at
lots of other pages too.
We'll be looking
at accelerations
  and velocities and
  thruster firings,
  and there'll be all sorts
  of good information.
 - Well, that's cool,
 and I know you have
 a really really cool
 special job on landing day.
  Can you describe
  that to everybody?
- Sure, I'm extremely
honored to be sitting up
 in the front row with Devin
 Kipp and Christine Szalai,
  and we'll be watching
  this telemetry real time,
 whatever we have, and
 trying to interpret it
 in real time, and Christine
 will be calling out events
 to let everybody know
 what's happening,
 so it should be fun.
 - That's great.
  I hope you guys have all
  brushed up on spacecraft.
 - That's right.
 [audience chuckles]
 - All right, that's fantastic.
 So as Julie mentioned, we
 have a lot of different ways
that we're gonna be
getting information back
 from InSight during our entry,
 descent, and landing phase.
The first and primary source is
 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
 so it's gonna be gathering
 all the data that
 we see from InSight
 as it goes through the
 entry, descent, and landing,
 but it's gonna store that data
 and it's not gonna
 tell us what happened
 for about three hours,
 which is a little bit
  of delayed gratification,
  especially for me.
  I'm gonna be very nervous,
  I wanna know right now.
We have another source,
which is our UHF antenna
that will be listened to
directly on the earth.
  We have two observatories,
  the Green Bank Observatory
 in West Virginia, we also have
 the Max Planck Observatory
in Effelsberg, Germany.
 They'll be listening
 to see Doppler shifts,
 so we expect that
 we will probably see
the parachute
deployment, we might see
  heat shield separation,
  and we'll definitely know
  that we've landed
  on the surface.
 Again, that's not a
 lot of information.
  We also have to wait about
  five and a half hours
  to see that we finally got
  our solar arrays deployed,
 which is a key
 part of making sure
  that we're safely
  on the surface,
 ready to get our science back.
 We're not gonna get that for
 about five and a half hours
from Odyssey, so all of
that is lots of hours
  of delayed gratification.
 We do get an X-band beep
 from the spacecraft though,
  that tells us that
  the spacecraft
is arrived down on the surface,
  it says, it's taken me
  seven months to get here,
you've put me through
seven minutes of terror,
 but nonetheless, I'm
 safely on the surface,
 it's my safe call
 home, everything's
 looking good so far,
 but that still happens before
 the solar arrays deploy.
So, because of all that
delayed gratification,
 we decided that we'd bring
 a couple of stalkers with us
 called the MarCO spacecraft,
 and what those spacecraft do
is they'll be listening
to us real time,
 as we go through the entry,
 descent, and landing,
  they'll be looking
  at our UHF signal,
  and immediately
  turning it around
  and sending an X-band
  signal down to the earth.
 So, if we run an animation,
 I can show you exactly
 how that works.
 So you can see, in
 the middle is InSight.
On each side are the two
MarCOs, MarCO A and B,
in the horizon, Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO,
 is rising, so all of
 those are listening
  to the spacecraft, getting
  exactly the same data,
 but again, the MarCOs
 should be sending us
direct information back.
 They are a technology
 demonstration,
 so it's no guarantee
 that they're gonna
 work on landing day.
 They've been working
 great so far,
 so we expect that they will,
but you just never know
what's gonna happen.
  As the entry, descent,
  and landing goes through,
that information goes to
both MRO and the MarCOs.
 Hopefully we get information
 from both of those,
 and Julie will be interpreting
 whatever information we get,
 along with Sandy and
 the rest of the people
 in the mission support
 area, making sure
that we get that
information out.
 But to tell you a little bit
 more about how MarCO works,
  it's a really cool
  technology demonstration,
 I have Brian Clement, who's
 one of the systems engineers
that worked on MarCO, so Brian?
 [audience applauding]
 - Nice set up.
 - Thank you.
 [audience applauding]
  - Yeah, so I'll be
  here to tell you
  a little bit about MarCO.
  MarCO consists of
  two spacecraft,
 it's a technology
 demonstration mission,
  as Tom mentioned,
  and MarCO consists
  of two cubesats, and this
  is a scale model of MarCO.
 One inch equals one inch here,
so it's a really compact
mission overall, very efficient.
It's got three primary
technology demonstration pieces
  that allow us to go
  where no small spacecraft
 has gone before, that
 is into deep space,
 inter-planetary space,
 and those three pieces
 are a miniaturized radio
 that sits inside MarCO here,
 it's about the
 size of a softball,
 that allows us to communicate
 from almost 100
 million miles away.
 The second piece is
 this beautiful HGA,
 or high gain antenna,
 that sits up here.
 This is called
 reflect array antenna,
  and it allows us
  to focus that beam
 back towards Earth, from
 this little feed right here.
 So this is how we are
 going to talk to Earth
  on that X-band while we're
  listening to InSight's
  entry, descent,
  and landing data.
 Now, as I said,
 this is a technology
 demonstration mission.
We've proven all of
these pieces up, so far,
during our transit towards Mars.
  The last piece is the
  cold gas propulsion unit.
  Now, you may have
  heard about this.
 This uses fire extinguisher
 propellant as its means
of locomotion, and it allows us
to navigate and
maneuver in deep space.
As Tom was saying, you
have to go through TCMs,
 trajectory control maneuvers.
 This is how we do it on MarCO,
 with fire extinguisher
 propellant,
to allow us to move
slowly towards our goal
throughout the mission.
 Now, we have an
 animation that'll show
  a little bit about how
  the communication occurs,
 but the most
 important piece here
  for tomorrow's event is
  the UHF antenna down here.
 So if we could roll
 that animation,
we'll talk a little bit
about how that works,
 as InSight approaches
 Mars, we'll be then
picking up communication
using that antenna
at the bottom of MarCO.
  InSight will be
  broadcasting a UHF signal,
and then the MarCOs
will repeat that signal,
  but in the X-band,
  looking at Earth
  very closely with that HGA
  that we have on top there.
 This is is how we are
 going to allow MarCO
  to relay data back
  to Earth rapidly
 and understand what's
 gone on with EDL,
 if everything goes to go plan.
 Now, of course, the
 two MarCO missions,
 being a technology
 demonstration mission,
  we don't need to
  perform that relay
 for InSight to be
 successful, however,
 we believe that this is a
 really interesting technology
  overall, and we've really
  shown something unique
 in deep space that will allow
 us to further future missions
in a compact and efficient way.
And finally, I wanted
to show you a little bit
 about the cameras on MarCO.
So we have a camera, right here,
 you may have seen pictures,
 and we've been learning
how to take pictures as
we've been going along,
 and when we originally
 left on May 5th,
a few days later, we
took a picture of Earth,
 you saw a pale blue
 dot in that picture,
  and as we've been
  approaching Mars,
  we've been taking
  pictures as well.
If we could put one of those up.
 What we have here is
 the high gain antenna,
 which you see up here,
  and right down here in
  this lower left quadrant,
  is Mars, on the approach.
So we're really looking
forward to getting in,
  closer and closer
  and closer to Mars
 over the next 24
 hours and performing
  the entry, descent, and
  landing relay for InSight.
 And, so that's
 MarCO in a nutshell,
a small, compact mission
that's going to allow us
 to do some really neat things.
 But back to InSight,
 we have the principal
 investigator here,
 Bruce Banerdt,
to describe some of the
science behind InSight.
 [audience applauding]
  - Okay, so you've
  been hearing a lot
about the risks involved
in landing tomorrow,
  and all the intricate
  dance that the spacecraft
 has to go through in order to
 to get down to the surface,
 and I'm very cognizant
 of all that stuff.
 I've been living that design
 for the last seven years,
but what I'm here to
talk to you today about
 is the payoff, okay,
 this is the benefit,
  this is what we're
  going to Mars for.
So we've been doing the design,
  the construction of the
  spacecraft, the operation,
 for about seven years,
 we've been in space
  about, little less
  than seven months.
 It's gonna take us a little
 less than seven minutes
  to get down to the
  surface, and then,
 we're gonna be down
 on the surface,
and that's when the
mission actually starts.
 So as I've said,
 everything up to now
 has just been a prologue,
 it actually starts tomorrow.
 Feels like it's a climax, but
 it's actually the beginning.
 And so tomorrow,
 we're gonna be down
  on the surface, in
  Elysium Planitia,
 and for those of you who are
 up on your Martian geology
  and geography, we're gonna
  be right about here, okay,
on the surface of Mars.
 But, what we're
 gonna be looking at
 is not the area around here,
 what we're gonna be looking at
  is this, the deep
  interior of Mars,
  looking at the
  deep core of Mars,
  its mantle and its
  thin crust up here
 that have all the rocks that
 we actually have access to.
 That is the goal of
 the InSight mission
 is to actually map
 out the inside of Mars
 in three dimensions
 so that we understand
  the inside of Mars
  as well as we have
 come to understand
 the surface of Mars.
  And by doing that,
  we're not only
 just sort of
 exploring Mars itself,
 but we're actually
 going back in time,
 back four and a
 half billion years,
  to the, sort of the origin
  of the solar system.
  The structure of Mars, its
  crust, mantle, and core,
 which keep on
 swinging out of sight,
 this crust, mantle,
 and core was set up
in the first few
tens of millions
of years after Mars was formed.
 Probably, maybe even
 20 million years.
  And that's out of four
  and a half billion years,
 that's just a little
 tiny slice of time.
  The Earth was also formed
  at about the same time,
  it formed a crust, mantle
  and core, as Mars did,
 but after that, Earth
 just kept on going.
 It says, hey, this
 is fun, I'm going on,
 I'm gonna do plate tectonics,
I'm gonna do mantle convection,
 I'm gonna stir everything up,
and then you get four
and a half billion years
and later go, oh, wait a second,
 all of that evidence
 has been erased.
And so anybody who comes
along and wants to know
 where we came from,
 you're in tough luck.
  Luckily, we can go to Mars
 and Mars decided to
 rest on its laurels
 after it formed,
 and so when we look
 at the crust of Mars,
 that's a snapshot
into the past of what the crust
  of the Earth might
  have looked like
  four and a half
  billion years ago,
before it got all busy.
So, in order to
understand the formation
 of the Earth, the way
 that the Earth evolved
 into a planet
 which is habitable,
which has oceans, which
has an atmosphere,
 which has a nice temperature,
if you're not in New
York right now at least,
it's a nice temperature,
 whereas other planets
 did not go that way,
 and they're the very details,
 the small little details
  of that evolution,
  is what we think
  makes a difference between
  having a nice planet
 like the Earth, a place
 where you can take a vacation
 and get a tan, or
 a place like Venus,
  where you're gonna burn
  up in a matter of seconds,
or Mars, where you'd
probably freeze to death
 and wouldn't be able
 to breathe very well.
  Those details are
  pretty important,
  in terms of living, but
  they're very small details
 in terms of the way
 the planet evolved.
 And we're trying to
 get a good enough,
  precise enough measurement
  of the conditions
 of early Mars that we
 can refine our models
and understand how those details
 send us down different paths.
  Okay, so how are
  we gonna do that?
We're gonna do that
with a couple of
geophysical techniques,
 that's using physics to
 study geological processes,
and the first one, and
the most important one,
  is the seismology.
 Seismology is the
 study of earthquakes,
 or in our case, Marsquakes,
 and it's not just studying
 the quakes themselves,
 but we're using
 the waves generated
 by those quakes,
 the vibrational waves, which
 pass through the planet,
 in order to probe deep
 down into the planet.
 When we look at things
 with our eyeballs,
 we're using light waves,
 which bounce off of things,
 they travel through
 the atmosphere,
 they travel through
 glass, they get bent,
they get reflected, and our eyes
 kinda puts together
 all that information
to just give us a three
dimensional knowledge
of the world around us.
 Okay, so when we turn
 our eyes downwards
 to look at the
 core of the planet,
 doesn't work so well,
 'cause light waves
 don't go through
 rocks, but the waves
that do go through
rocks are seismic waves,
 and so, on Mars, when
 there's a Marsquake,
where the crust moves suddenly,
starts vibrations moving
through the planet,
 it's like a flash bulb going
 off in the seismic world,
 and our seismometer
 is our eyes on Mars,
  which take those waves and
  let us turn those waves
 into a 3-D picture of
 the inside of Mars.
 And so, let's run the
 first animation here.
  This is where a Marsquake
  has occurred on Mars.
 These are surface waves,
 traveling across the surface
as they go past the seismometer,
 here's the seismic, the
 seismogram that's generated.
  The nice thing about
  Mars is it's small enough
 that those surface waves
 keep going around the Mars,
  as they go to the other
  side, they pass each other
 at what we call the antipode,
the opposite side of the planet,
 and they keep on
 coming back around.
 As they come back around, they
 pass the spacecraft again.
 The seismometer picks
 up the seismic waves
 that have gone around,
 and, they pick up
 the ones going around
 the other way as well.
 And so, you may have
 heard that it takes
 three seismometers to
 locate an earthquake
 and do seismology, well, we
 only have one seismometer,
  but we're using
  extra information.
 Here, we have the P wave, the
 S wave and the surface wave,
but we have these extra
two surface wave events
  that go around the planet
 because Mars is small,
 it doesn't absorb
 the waves as quickly
 as the Earth does,
 and we can use this
 extra information
  to actually locate how far
  away that Marsquake was
  from our spacecraft, we
  can do some other analysis
 to figure out which way
 those waves are coming from,
  figure out where
  that Marsquake is,
  and with that information,
  we can use the information
from the velocities of the waves
 to probe inside the
 planet and figure out
  what it's made out of, and
  where the boundaries are.
So, in order to do that,
we use an instrument
 called a seismometer,
 and I have a couple
 of seismometers here, well,
 I have one seismometer
  and one fake seismometer.
 This is a Streckeisen STS-2,
 it's a so-called
 portable seismometer,
  it's used quite
  a bit in geology.
  It's very similar
  in size to this,
 which is a 3-D printed model
 of our InSight seismometer.
On the Earth, this is
a portable seismometer,
  which means we
  ship it in a crate
  that's about this
  big, full of foam
 so that it doesn't get broken.
  When we take it
  out in the field,
 we don't just set it
 down on the ground,
  we usually dig a hole,
  put down a concrete slab,
 put insulation around
 it, and everything
  so that the temperature's
  nice and uniform,
 and so then, we can
 use this seismometer
to do the kind of seismology
that I'm talking about on Mars.
  On Mars, we have this guy.
 This is the heart of
 our whole mission.
 Inside this are three
 seismic sensors,
  and it has to do the same
  kinds of things this does,
  but we don't have someone
  there to dig a deep hole,
 put insulation
 around and so forth.
 And these seismometers
 are so sensitive,
 that they're picking up
 vibrations from these quakes.
 These are not the
 kinds of vibrations
 that knock your house down,
 these are very tiny vibrations
  that have traveled
  through the entire planet,
 and the sensitivity
 in these seismometers
  is such that they
  can see vibrations
  with an amplitude of
  about the size of an atom,
 maybe a fraction
 of an atom, and so,
you can imagine that,
if there's a little bit
 of wind blowing, if there's,
  that the temperature goes
  up and down a little bit,
 things expand and contract,
 all of those things
 are gonna go and show
 up in our signal,
 and so, if I can have
 the next picture,
this is what we do in
order to make that work.
 Okay, so right here,
 this yellow part
 in the very center, is that,
 what we called our sphere.
  It's not really a sphere,
  but it's close enough.
And you can see some
of the stuff inside it.
  What we've done
  is, first of all,
 we've evacuated that sphere.
 It's a vacuum, a
 hard vacuum inside,
  that helps to insulate it.
 Then, we put, sort of, another
 vacuum bottle around it.
 This is our thermal enclosure,
 it has a hollow inside.
  This protects it from the
  temperature variations
 on Mars, which can be
 as much as 100 degrees
 as we go from day to night,
and finally, we put
this dome over the top,
 we call it our wind
 and thermal shield.
That protects it from the wind,
 and protects it a little bit
 more from the temperature.
  It's actually kind of
  cool, it has a hard dome,
 and then it has
 kind of an accordion
 thermal blanket
 down here, and then,
 we actually have chain
 mail at the bottom,
that actually can conform itself
 to the irregular
 ground, keep the wind
  from going underneath it.
  And so, by putting all
  of these different layers
 of insulation between
 our seismic sensors
 and the environment,
 we actually have
 what we call a
 thermal time constant
 of about seven and a
 half or eight hours
 it takes for a thermal
 variation to go
from the outside to the inside,
and that keeps it going.
Okay, so this is what
we're gonna do on Mars.
 I think that's about
 all I have to say,
  I think we can wrap it up
  and go back to Veronica.
- All right, thank you.
 [audience applauding]
 We're going to invite,
 stay where you are.
  We're gonna invite all
  the speakers to come back
 on stage and we're going
 to open it up to questions.
 We're gonna take questions
 from here in the auditorium,
 we'll also be going to
 questions on the phone line.
 If you're on the phone
 line, please hit star, one,
to get into the queue,
so we know you're there,
waiting with a question.
 We're also gonna take
 questions from social media,
  online, using the
  hashtag askNASA.
All right, let's start
here in the auditorium.
 I'm gonna start on this
 side, with Emily Lakdawalla.
- Emily Lakdawalla, with
The Planetary Society.
  I have a couple of
  MarCO questions.
 I'm wondering if you
 can give some details
 on flyby distances for Mars,
are they basically on the course
  that you planned for them,
  what will the range be
  to InSight during landing?
  And you showed us
  a cool picture,
 are you planning to take any
 more as you approach Mars?
 - You may have to remind me
  of some of those questions
  as we go through.
 So, first of all, the flyby
 will be about 2,500 miles
  above the surface of Mars.
The distance to InSight,
directly, as it lands,
 will be approximately
 3,000 to 3,500,
 and then, I think your other
 question was, pictures, yes.
  Yes, we are taking
  more pictures,
we'll see how we do with those,
  and the MarCO used a very
  off the shelf camera,
if you will, and so
we're learning as we go
with those pictures, so
every time we take one
  is a little bit
  more information.
 We've been happy so
 far, but we'll see
 how we do as we get closer.
- All right, we're gonna
go one in front here,
 to Steve Futterman, go ahead.
  - Steve Futterman,
  from CBS News.
  For Tom, I want to sort of
  get to your psychological
  makeup right now.
 What is your mood right now?
Are you nervous,
excited, a bit of both,
and what is it going to be like
  during these seven
  minutes of terror?
  - That's a great question.
I am completely excited
and completely nervous,
 all at the same time,
 because everything
  that we've done today
  makes us feel comfortable
and confident we're
gonna land on Mars, but,
everything has to go perfectly,
 and Mars could always
 throw us a curve ball,
 to use the baseball analogy
 that may decrease
 our batting average.
But, I think, we've been
practicing very well,
  I'm confident, but
  very trepidatious.
 I have not been
 sleeping that great.
  Might be because I have
  two and four year old kids
 running around the
 house all the time,
 but nonetheless, I'm
 gonna be very excited
  once we get that
  first signal back
 that shows that we
 successfully landed on Mars.
  I am totally gonna unleash
  my inner four year
  old at that point.
 [audience laughing]
- Okay, I'm gonna go to
the phone lines next.
We have AP on the phone, please
go ahead with your question.
 - [Operator] Marcia,
 your line is open.
  - [Marcia] Yes, hi, we've
  heard that Dr. Zurbuchen's
 got some stomach stuff
 going on from nerves,
 and we've got the
 inner four year old
 going to be unleashed
 by Tom Hoffman.
  Dr. Banerdt, I'd like to
  get a look into your mind
 and stomach right now, I mean,
how are you feeling and
how do you anticipate
you're gonna be dealing
with the critical times
  tomorrow before touchdown?
 - Well, I have to admit, I'm
 getting a little nervous.
I wasn't sure whether, actually,
  I'm probably more nervous
  about this press briefing
 than I am about the landing.
 [audience laughing]
 But it'll get there,
 it'll get there.
I've been really, along with Tom
  and a lot of other people,
  been living this mission
for about six years,
and we've been thinking
of everything that
could possibly go wrong,
 which is something that
 gives you pause, sometimes,
 'cause there's a lot of
 things that could go wrong,
 but every time you think of
 something that could go wrong,
  you figure out how
  to mitigate it,
  how to either make it less
  likely or how to fix it,
 and so, we've fixed an
 incredible number of things
over the last six
years, and I'm actually
 really confident personally
 that we're gonna
 land safely tomorrow.
 Doesn't mean I'm not
 nervous, but we'll see
 when they call safe touchdown,
 we'll see just how nervous
 I actually was, I'll find out
 with the rest of you, I think.
 [audience chuckling]
  - [Veronica] Hey Bruce, I
  know you've been working
 for the last six years,
 really hard on this mission,
 but you should tell them how
 long you've been dreaming
of this mission.
- Oh, well.
 I was actually
 here at JPL in 1976
 when Viking landed on Mars,
 I was a geophysical
 graduate student,
 and was really disappointed
 when the seismometers
  on Viking didn't work out,
  and I thought back then
that boy, we really need
to send a seismometer
 back to Mars, and then
 I went back to my,
  whatever it was
  I was working on,
and then about 10 years
later, in the late 80s,
 I started working with
 some engineers at JPL
  on seismometers and kinda
  got the mission bug,
I kinda caught the mission bug,
and got more or less,
some people say obsessed
about sending a mission to Mars.
So I've really been
working pretty steadily
 for 25 to 30 years on this,
 and had about six or eight
 unsuccessful proposals
 before this one,
but, which, each one is
a learning experience,
 and so, I'd say I'm
 a patient person.
 [all laughing]
 As well as persistent, but
 yeah, it's been a long time.
  This is really a long time
  dream come true for me.
 - Okay, we're gonna go
 to one more question
 on the phone line,
 Irish TV, Leo Enright,
go ahead please.
 - [Leo] Thanks very
 much, Veronica,
 and there are a lots
 of four year olds
 with good Celtic names
 watching this as well.
  And my question
  has to do, really,
 with the European involvement.
 And I just wondered,
 I cannot remember,
and I, as Veronica
knows, I've covered this
  for a long time,
  I cannot remember
  any interplanetary mission
  that has this level
 of international cooperation.
 I just wondered, am
 I right about that,
  is this unique in
  modern history,
 or have I missed something?
  - So, why don't I
  talk about this?
 It's Thomas Zurbuchen.
So, close to 2/3 of our missions
 do have international
 involvement.
 What's unique about
 this one, if you take
 at the whole payload,
 which of course,
is the why of a mission, right,
  it's there, of course,
  the piece in front of you,
 I met the guy in
 France, I remember,
  I was introduced
  to him by the CEO
 of the company, and
 says, this is the guy.
 I still remember him,
 tattoos down his arm,
  he said, "He has the magic
  touch, he's the only one
  "who really knows
  how to put these
"super sensitive sensors
into the sphere."
And so I met him, right,
I'm grateful to him,
  right, that together
  with his colleagues there
 at Sodern and
 elsewhere, and CNES,
of course, the other instrument
that you didn't talk much about,
but you can, of course,
is from Germany.
  Of course, the electronics
  is from Switzerland,
  over here, it's
  here from Germany,
 there's also Polish
 contributions
  as well as others,
  and so, kind of,
 just as a fraction of
 payload, it is unique.
 It is unique, in
 terms of just how much
 is being done
 elsewhere, of course,
 we believe in United
 States that leadership
  and collaboration are
  not contradicting values.
We believe that the best
is served for humanity
 if we actually have the
 best seismology instrument,
the best thermal probe,
and in this case,
they're built elsewhere, and
so that's why we're doing that.
Bruce worked in on this.
  - That's pretty much, that
  pretty much covers it.
 I mean, all these instruments,
 for example, the seismometers,
 being supplied by the
 French space agency,
  but there have been
  substantial contributions
 from the United
 Kingdom, from Germany,
from Switzerland, and
from the United States.
We had, actually, a
pretty big part of that,
 and so, it's really
 a collaboration,
 and the collaboration really
 doesn't have any respect
for boundaries, we just
get the best people,
the best technology,
wherever we can find it.
  - Okay, we're gonna take
  it back here in the room,
 with a question here
 on the end, go ahead.
 - [Jeff] Jeff Foust,
 Space News, for Tom.
 Can you give us a
 little more details
 on this final TCM in terms
 of the timing and duration,
  and are you aiming
  to get right back
  onto that X in the center,
  or some offset from it?
- Yeah, so we're hoping
that this afternoon
 we do just a very small burn,
 it's only a few centimeters
  per second, which
  is a relatively,
it's almost a breath of
air out of your mouth.
We hope that we're gonna
move about 11 miles
 from where we are
 today to that red X.
  We're a little bit
  to the northwest.
 If we go further
 northwest than that,
  than where we're
  currently showing,
  we get into a region that
  we're not as comfortable
 landing in, which
 is the reason we had
 a very exciting
 and it wasn't clear
 what the answer was gonna
 be in our 6:00 a.m. meeting
 this morning, we listened
 to all the different inputs,
 and the final decision
 was to go ahead
 and do the TCM,
 let's move ourselves
back to that red
X and be exactly
 where we really wanna land,
 for both safety standpoint,
 as well as making sure that
 we have the right location
 for our science instruments.
 - Okay, we have a question in
 the back row, there you go.
- Hi, Fred Bastien, Fred
Bastien YouTube channel.
  I have a question
  about the insights
 we can get from InSight
 about the science over there.
What's the main
hypothesis, but mostly,
 what's the craziest
 thing we could learn,
  what is the most
  mind blowing thing
 we could learn about
 Mars, true insight?
 - Wow, I mean, I
 think my imagination's
 really always been
 challenged by Mars,
 because we keep on
 running into things
 that are crazier
 than I ever imagined.
 I think, you know,
 we've thought a lot
about how many quakes
there might be on Mars,
 or how active Mars could be.
 I think probably
 what's gonna happen
is we're gonna find out
that the whole question
  of sort of seismicity,
  which is the distribution
 and rate of seismicity on Mars
 is gonna tell us some things
 that we had absolutely no
 idea were going on in Mars.
  I mean, seismology
  is one of the ways
 that we really confirmed
 plate tectonics on the Earth,
 looking at where all
 the earthquakes bunch,
along plate boundaries,
and allowed us to see
where the plate boundaries were.
  On Mars, when we start
  getting these Mars plates,
they're gonna be telling
us where there's stuff
 going on on Mars, where the
 forces are concentrating,
and I think that's
gonna tell us something
 that was probably completely
 absent from our models,
but, then again, now
that I've thought of it,
 it's probably not true, so.
 [audience laughing]
 - All right, again in
 the back row there.
  - [Ivan] Hi there,
  it's Ivan Semeniuk
with the Globe and
Mail, just a short one,
  about that safe call home.
Can you just remind us
precisely when you're expecting
that to arrive, how you'll know,
 how we'll know
 that you've got it,
and what, how you would
spring into action,
  or what scenarios
  you might pursue
if you don't get it right away.
 - Yeah, so about seven
 minutes after we land,
 we're expecting to
 get an X-band beep.
  If we don't get
  that X-band beep,
all is not lost, that just means
that we're in a
slightly different mode.
We would be in something
called safe mode,
  which by its name, you
  can figure out it's safe.
 In that mode, the only thing
 that we would really lose
 is that first image,
 everything else
 is autonomously done
 by the spacecraft,
 so we'll get the
 solar arrays deployed,
  making sure that we're
  thermally and energy safe,
 and then we will start talking
 with the orbiting assets,
Odyssey, Mars
Reconnaissance Orbital,
 we'll start getting
 that data up to them.
 So it really, seven minutes
 means everything's great,
  if we get it a
  little bit earlier
 or a little bit after that,
 it still means everything's
 in pretty good shape,
 we just not gonna
 get a picture back for awhile.
- [Ivan] Thanks.
  - Okay, I'm gonna
  go here to Ian.
 There we go.
 - Hi, Ian O'Neill with
 Scientific American
 and HowStuffWorks.com.
 I had a question, in
 Mars' ancient past,
it was hit by a massive impact.
 How will InSight
 expose the interior
  of Mars to explain what
  actually may have hit it,
and if it did happen, or
perhaps some other explanation?
- Okay, I assume you're talking
 about the origin of
 the dichotomy boundary
 in the northern plains,
 which are a different level
  and different character
  than the southern plains,
 and one thing InSight
 will be able to do
is, we think, if we
have a reasonable number
 of Marsquakes that are
 distributed around the planet,
 we'll be able to look at
 waves that are coming at us
from the north, through
the northern plains,
 which are the putative
 location of this giant impact,
 and waves that are
 coming from the south,
 and use the crustal thickness
 that we can determine
  from both of those
  in order to see
 what the difference
 in the thickness
of the crust is between
the north and the south,
  and that will feed
  into evaluation
 of various different models
 of how the northern plains
 formed, and so I
 think that's probably
 our best bet for
 helping to constrain
that particular problem.
- Thank you.
- Okay, next question, go ahead.
 - [Fig] Fig O'Reilly
 with Girls Who Code.
 My question is, how
 long do you expect
it will take to generate
enough usable data
 to produce insights
 about Mars's interior?
- Okay, so this is, InSight is,
 once we get to the surface,
 InSight is a slow
 motion mission, okay?
We take our time getting
our instruments down,
  it'll probably
  take at least two,
probably more like three months,
maybe even longer to get
our instruments down.
 It's gonna take us a month or
 so to get 'em all calibrated,
  and in tune to
  Mars's conditions,
 and then we'll start
 collecting our data.
  We'll start collecting
  the data at the beginning,
but then we'll start collecting
the best, the cleanest data.
 I would say, probably it's
 gonna be at least six months
 before we even get a glimmer
 of what we're looking for,
and a lot of the
really basic questions,
 I think, it's gonna take close
 to the full two year mission.
 We might be getting
 stuff out before that,
 but it really depends on how
 benevolent Mars is feeling.
 How many Marsquakes
 it throws at us.
The more Marsquakes the better,
  we just love that shakin',
  [audience laughing]
 the more shaking it does, the
 better we can see the inside.
 Let those flash bulbs
 keep on going off.
 If it's nice and a good clip,
  we'll, maybe even
  earlier than that,
 but with the rate
 that we're expecting,
 we'll probably be getting some
 of those really basic results
  out, probably not much
  earlier than two years in.
 A lot of other cool
 stuff'll happen,
  we'll get weather
  reports every day,
  we'll be measuring
  the heat flow,
 we'll be measuring the wobble,
 so there will certainly be a
 stream of results coming out,
 but in terms of the
 really deep questions,
  I think, you know, hold
  on to your hat for awhile.
 - Okay, we only have time
 for a couple more questions.
I'm gonna go to social
media, see if we've got
 any burning questions
 coming in from online.
- [Stephanie] So many questions,
 a very lively YouTube chat,
  and everybody out there
  on Twitter using askNASA,
  thank you so much, we will
  be answering more online
 after the broadcast is over.
 So, we talked about
 inner four year olds,
 we have a real four year old,
Ellie, four, and Jackson, eight,
together wanna know how
the information we learn
 from NASA InSight will shape
 future missions to Mars.
- [Woman] Nice question.
 - Yeah, I think there's a
 couple parts of that question,
 that there's certainly
 the science aspect,
 I can talk to the
 engineering aspect.
  One of the things that we
  do with every EDL mission,
 entry, descent, and landing,
  is we gather a
  lot of information
 that we're getting
 from the spacecraft
as it goes through that process.
 Every single time we do that,
 we learn something a
 little bit different,
 we change what we're doing,
we change the parameters
the next time,
  maybe change a little bit
  of the design of that,
so certainly, we're gonna
learn a lot from that activity,
 and we'll feed that forward
 to the future missions.
 - Yeah, and of course, the
 way we think about the future
 mission is March
 2020, is, even though
  everything this
  weekend, tomorrow,
 is focused on InSight,
 there's other people
here on this campus
that are worrying about
 what's going to happen in 2020
  when we're going
  back with a rover
  just as big as Curiosity,
  and doing, really,
the first leg of
a sample return,
 and it's that very information
 that you just talked about,
 information that teaches us
 how to do safely these
 entry, descent and landing,
as well as other things
about the atmosphere
 and the environment
 that will help us
  with that mission
  and many to come.
- All right, and
Bruce, couple questions
from Bill Tandy over on Twitter.
So, will the seismometer
collect science
as the heat flow probe
is hammering into Mars,
 and what happens if
 that probe encounters
 a rock or ice as it descends?
 - We're definitely gonna be
 listening to the vibrations
  that are gonna be put out
 by that hammer of
 our heat flow probe.
 It's kind of a bonus
 experiment for us.
  It really is not
  connected to our main goal
of looking at the deep interior.
  The waves from that hammer
  will probably penetrate
 maybe 40 or 50 or possibly
 100 feet down into the soil,
so it will give us information,
 possibly about
 layering in the soil
 and the rocks right
 underneath our lander,
and again, this is not something
that we planned originally,
but it's really kind of
taken the imagination
of the team, and a lot of
people have been working on that
and trying to figure out
 how to make that
 particular experiment work,
because it's just so
cool, it's just so fun.
 So, as far as whether
 it encounters a rock,
 our mole is a pretty
 muscular mole.
It can get around,
actually, smaller rocks.
Anything smaller than
about two inches or so,
  it'll just push it aside.
 If it gets to a larger
 rock, it depends
  on the slope of the face.
If it's a slanted face,
the mole will actually
work itself sideways
and go around the rock,
  but if it hits a
  flat, large rock,
that's just as far as it can go.
  And we've looked
  at the statistics
  of how many rocks we
  expect under the surface.
 That's gone into, actually,
 our choice of landing area,
 of looking for a place with
 few rocks on the surface
 that we could extrapolate to
 few rocks under the surface,
 and so we feel like we
 have, from our calculations,
a high probability of
success, of getting down
 at least 10 feet,
 which is deep enough
 to do our measurements
 easily, and probably
to the full 16 feet
that we're shooting for.
- [Stephanie] Veronica,
do we have time
 for one more question?
 - No.
 - Agh.
- [Veronica] We're using
up time quickly here.
  - Find us online.
  - Exactly.
 Not only will social
 media, we'll continue
to answer your questions online,
 but there's also
 another show coming up
later on today at 1:00 p.m.
Pacific, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
 It is for all of our social
 media attendees today,
  it's another opportunity
  for a lot of great Q and A
 with the mission team members,
 so if you don't hear
 your question now,
you might hear it in that show.
 I've got one more,
 Leo Enright, Irish TV,
 you've got a followup
 question on the phone line,
 and go ahead.
  - [Leo] Oh, thank you very
  much indeed, Veronica.
  Appreciate it, I
  was just wondering
 about this TCM tonight,
 it's I think about midnight
 our time here in
 Europe, how important
 will the New Norcia
 ESA tracking station
in Western Australia be?
 I know it's scheduled
 to be watching out,
 but has it suddenly
 gained an importance
that it didn't have, now
that you have this burn?
 - Well, we always
 appreciate the support
that we've been getting from it,
 but we're actually not going
 to be using that for anything
 related to the trajectory
 correction maneuver coming up.
We don't have really
time to do much tracking
after that trajectory correction
maneuver this afternoon,
 and so, we're gonna do it,
 and we're gonna be targeted
  where we wanna go, and
  that's gonna be kinda it.
 - Okay, for those
 of you in the room,
 you'll have an
 opportunity to come up
 and ask them some questions
 when we're off the air.
I do wanna wrap the
broadcast at this time,
 so I wanna thank all the
 speakers for being here today.
 Great information.
 [audience applauding]
  Okay, and for all
  of you watching,
  a reminder that
  we land tomorrow.
Our commentary begins at
2:00 a.m. Pacific Time,
I'm sorry, let me
correct that, 11:00 a.m.
 [audience laughing]
Commentary begins at
11:00 a.m. Pacific Time,
2:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
landing takes place
  about an hour into
  the show there,
 maybe 50 minutes, so tune in.
There's multiple ways to watch.
 You can go to nasa.gov/live,
you can see the broadcast there.
 You can also check out
 our InSight Toolkit,
 because it gives
 you multiple options
 for watching the live stream.
 That is at
 go.nasa.gov/InSightToolkit.
  You'll learn where we will
  be feeding to YouTube,
 to Facebook, also, our
 live 360 degree feed
 from inside mission control.
There's also a tab on that site
  that says Watch In Person.
  Click there if
  you wanna find out
 where there is an in
 person viewing event
 that you can attend.
There are events taking
place from Los Angeles
 to New York, even in
 Times Square tomorrow,
 if you happen to
 be out in the cold,
 you can watch from
 multiple locations.
We will be back, as I
mentioned, at 1:00 p.m.
Pacific Time today, with
the NASA Social Show,
 and again, commentary
 tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. Pacific,
 2:00 p.m. Eastern
 Time, thank you all
 for joining us today,
 and go InSight!
 [audience applauding]
