REAL LIFE NEWS: MARS MISSION UNDER THREAT FROM MASSIVE DUST STORM
by Hazed
NASA is worried that its Insight mission to Mars, launching in May and due to land in November, could run into problems. A massive dust storm is expected to engulf the planet around that time which could threaten the mission.
These massive storms aren’t unusual. In the past they have occurred in 1977, 1982, 1994, 2001 and 2007. Now one is due this summer. It will throw an enormous amount of dust into the atmosphere, with no rain to wash it out. The wind will rise to speeds of around 26 metres per second, the surface will cool down and the upper atmosphere will heat up.
InSight (it stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) will release some cubesats into orbit around Mars and then head down to the surface, landing near the equator. As it enters the atmosphere at around 14,100mph, the probe will slow down while its heat shield ablates, then deploy a supersonic parachute. Once this has been jettisoned, the lander will fire up 12 rockets to gently lower it to the surface.
But the increase in dust in the atmosphere from a global dust storm could sandblast the heat shield and damage the parachute. The strong winds also make the landing a lot riskier. Once on the ground, the dust could cause problems for the lander’s solar panels.
If the InSight team think that all this poses too much risk, the mission may have to be delayed.