Tiny, Mars-Bound Satellite Snaps Its First Image of Earth and the Moon
By Mike Wall | May 16, 2018
The Earth and moon star in this first photo from Wall-E, one of NASA's two Mars Cube One cubesats, that launched with the agency's InSight Mars lander on May 5, 2018. This view of Earth and the moon was taken May 9. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
A tiny satellite on its way to Mars has opened its eyes and captured a view of home.
One of NASA's two Mars Cube One (MarCO) cubesats, which launched toward the Red Planet along with the agency's InSight lander on May 5, took a photo on May 9 to help confirm that its high-gain antenna had deployed properly.
The antenna is in the photo. And so are the moon and Earth, the latter of which appears as a pale blue dot, just as it did in a famous photo taken by NASA's Voyager 1 probe in 1990. [Launch Photos: See NASA's InSight Soar Toward Mars]
"Consider it our homage to Voyager," MarCO chief engineer Andy Klesh, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said in a statement. "Cubesats have never gone this far into space before, so it's a big milestone. Both our cubesats are healthy and functioning properly. We're looking forward to seeing them travel even farther."
www.space.com/40599-mars-...at-earth-moon-photo.html?jwsource=cl
Despite the "pale blue dot" photos' similarity, the two cubesats, known as MarCO-A and MarCO-B, are nowhere near as far afield as Voyager 1 was back in 1990. The older probe took its iconic image from a distance of about 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers), whereas the two cubesats were about 620,000 miles (1 million km) from Earth on May 8, the day before MarCO-B snapped the newly released image, NASA officials said.
Cubesats are becoming relatively common in Earth orbit, where they test various technologies, study and image Earth, and perform a number of other tasks. But none of these tiny craft had ever ventured into deep space until the twin MarCO spacecraft did.
The first photo captured by one of NASA's two Mars Cube One (MarCO) cubesats, which launched along with the agency's InSight lander on May 5, 2018. The image, which shows the cubesat's unfolded high-gain antenna at right and Earth and the moon in the center, was acquired by the cubesat, dubbed MarCO-B, on May 9. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
MarCO-A and MarCO-B, which were built at JPL, are conducting a demonstration mission — basically, their handlers aim to show that cubesats can indeed help explore distant destinations. They're also testing a few specific technologies, including a propulsion system that uses the same cold, compressed gas commonly found in fire extinguishers. (This detail explains the duo's nicknames, Wall-E and Eva. In the 2008 film "Wall-E," the titular robot uses a fire extinguisher to zoom around in space while his friend Eva looks on. And, in case you're wondering, MarCO-A is Eva, and MarCO-B is Wall- E.)
If all goes according to plan, MarCO-A and -B will fly by Mars on Nov. 26, the same day that InSight arrives at the Red Planet for its crucial entry, descent and landing (EDL) sequence. The MarCO team wants the cubesats to help relay InSight's EDL data back to mission control on Earth, but this isn't a vital aspect of the lander's mission; NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will perform this relay function as well.
The MarCO craft will undergo a long-distance health check within a few weeks of the Mars flyby, and then the mission will be over, team members have said.
InSight's work, however, will just be beginning. The lander — whose name is short for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport" — will perform three different experiments to investigate Mars' internal structure and composition over its roughly two-Earth-year prime mission. InSight's observations should help researchers better understand how rocky planets form and evolve, NASA officials have said.
#1: Liberator To: BTP Holdings, NASA Fanboi Stooges (#0)
Hey BTP -- NASA has already repeatedly echoed the FACT that they can NOT LEAVE LOW EARTH ORBIT. What say YOU and the other Stooges?
Liberator posted on 2021-10-01 13:52:13 Reply Private Reply
#2: Dakmar To: Liberator (#1)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 17:45:44 Reply Private Reply
#3: FormerLurker To: Liberator (#1)
More like the Minister of the Flat Earth has made that proclamation. Prove me wrong by providing a credible source.
And BTW, if there were ANY orbits involved, the earth isn't flat.
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-01 18:01:09 Reply Private Reply
#4: Dakmar To: FormerLurker (#3)
LOL, it's like the time I got into shouting match with a guy that swore he was a deaf-mute.
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 18:07:39 Reply Private Reply
#5: FormerLurker To: Dakmar (#4)
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-01 18:18:34 Reply Private Reply
#6: Esso To: Dakmar (#4)
Esso posted on 2021-10-01 18:29:30 Reply Private Reply
#7: FormerLurker To: Dakmar (#4)
That and why objects fall when you drop them, since there is no force of gravity according to them. As most people know, nothing moves without a force being applied to it.
Objects that are already in motion will continue to move unless a force is applied to stop that motion.
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-01 18:36:44 Reply Private Reply
#8: Dakmar To: Esso (#6)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 18:40:31 Reply Private Reply
#9: Dakmar To: FormerLurker (#7)
Tell a low IQ Australian to look for Polaris in the night sky and they'll go berserk. That's my IQ test for Aussies. :)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 18:51:27 Reply Private Reply
#10: Esso To: Dakmar (#8)
Esso posted on 2021-10-01 19:01:24 Reply Private Reply
#11: Dakmar To: Esso (#10)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 19:04:47 Reply Private Reply
#12: Dakmar To: Esso (#10)
Keroak was a typical papist pussy!
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 19:39:36 Reply Private Reply
#13: Dakmar To: Esso (#10)
Vodka! Hells yes! :)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 19:57:11 Reply Private Reply
#14: StraitGate To: Dakmar (#9)
StraitGate posted on 2021-10-01 20:08:59 Reply Private Reply
#15: Dakmar To: StraitGate (#14)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 20:13:52 Reply Private Reply
#16: StraitGate To: Esso (#10)
StraitGate posted on 2021-10-01 20:28:19 Reply Private Reply
#17: StraitGate To: Dakmar (#15)
StraitGate posted on 2021-10-01 20:39:31 Reply Private Reply
#18: StraitGate To: Dakmar (#15)
StraitGate posted on 2021-10-01 20:50:56 Reply Private Reply
#19: Dakmar To: StraitGate (#18)
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 21:03:56 Reply Private Reply
#20: Lod To: Dakmar (#2)
Lod posted on 2021-10-01 21:35:21 Reply Private Reply
#21: StraitGate To: Lod (#20)
StraitGate posted on 2021-10-01 21:53:19 Reply Private Reply
#22: Dakmar To: Lod, StraitGate (#20)
I remembered Lib as a PITA neocon from years ago, who came back a few months ago making sense for about two posts and then went all CIA again, so I think you have shown wisdom and maturity with that move.
Dakmar posted on 2021-10-01 22:09:05 Reply Private Reply
#23: BTP Holdings To: Dakmar (#9)
In the southern skies there is the Southern Cross which points you due south. If you can figure out how to locate it you are in like flint.
Finding Polaris in the northern skies is simple. You locate the Big Dipper and follow the direction the two stars point in the lower part of the cup. That will point you to Polaris and due north. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2021-10-02 08:23:53 Reply Private Reply
#24: Liberator To: Lod, Dakmar, Staitgate, FormerLurker aka NASA Groupies etal (#20)
The rest of you, I feel sorry for you -- both long-timers who seek the truth, and those who deny truth and new information.
Kneeling at the Kindergarten Altar of your NWO Masters, NASA, their Fake Science, Fake History and Gaslighting -- how embarrassing for a forum that once challenged lies and forged sources of truth.
Think you're any better than the Woke Crowd and Left? Nope. You're WORSE. MUCH. WORSE. You lie to yourselves and engage in a pathetic child- like level of cognitive dissonance. This place makes the 2010s FR look like The Enlightenment.
The truth is, 4um has become a tiny, dark, delusional Cultist Echo Chamber. No worthy debate required. None seen. Waste of Time.
Liberator posted on 2021-10-02 08:26:47 Reply Private Reply
#25: BTP Holdings To: Lod (#20)
Thanks for the reminder. That list exists just for freaks like Liberator. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2021-10-02 08:28:07 Reply Private Reply
#26: FormerLurker To: Liberator (#24)
What would be the motive for all of mankind to be in on this huge conspiracy that's been going on for several thousand years now?
Why would they lie about the nature of gravity, motion, space, the planets, and of the earth itself?
And contrary to your insinuation, just because we don't subscribe to your Church of the Flat Earth doesn't mean we don't believe in God.
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-02 14:16:16 Reply Private Reply
#27: FormerLurker To: Liberator (#24)
You are exactly that which you accuse others of being.
Either you are not self aware at all, or you just love to troll Internet forums to see if you can get some fish to bite.
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-02 14:18:39 Reply Private Reply
#28: FormerLurker To: Liberator (#24)
We still do, that's why I've tried to point you to actual facts, but you insist on jumping up and down like an angry child taking a tantrum while displaying zero understanding of simple logic and observable facts. Instead you cling to the absurd and post incredibly stupid garbage from other idiots on the Internet that no sane person would agree with.
You are a clown.
FormerLurker posted on 2021-10-02 14:28:45 Reply Private Reply