On May 5th of this year at 11:05 UTC, an Atlas V 401 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, flinging a 1,530-pound object away from our planet. A little over six months later, having travelled 301 million miles, InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, approached the red planet’s dusty atmosphere, travelling at a rate of over 12,000 mph, and began EDL, or entry, descent and landing.
NASA engineers referred to EDL as the “seven minutes of terror.” Being the culmination of more than 8 years of work and total $828.8 million USD, it makes sense. To watch those minutes for yourself, check out the NASA stream here.
The manufacturing and development of this lander falls under the NASA Discovery program, which is characterized by a revolutionary approach to space exploration, with a focus on delivering faster, better and cheaper development. The Discovery program funds low-cost missions with a budget of up to 450 million dollars excluding launch costs.
The successful landing of InSight was a remarkable achievement of science and engineering. Who was responsible for making it happen?
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the mission, and was responsible for the complete spacecraft system, including the cruise stage, aeroshell and the lander itself. The design of the spacecraft was based on the 2007 Phoenix mission, incorporating updated avionics equipment.
The company has a long history of building Mars landers, going back to the first Viking mission in 1976. Since then, Lockheed Martin has participated in building four landers and six orbiters destined for Mars.
NASA JPL
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was responsible for managing the launch, but also provided expertise in the development and manufacturing of several key components on board the lander.
According to this source, JPL was involved in providing a cable connecting the seismometer to the lander, as well as the systems which protect the device, including the remote warm enclosure box, the wind and thermal shield, and a titanium sphere containing VBB pendulums.
NASA also provides the command and data handling software systems on board the lander, using avionics derived from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution(MAVEN) and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) missions.
JPL also developed the lander’s robot arm, starting with a leftover arm made for the Mars Surveyor 2001 mission that never flew. The arm will lift and place the instruments and devices on the ground to begin the seismic experiments.
JPL was joined by UCLA and Spain’s Center for Astrobiology Madrid in contributing to the seismometer payload.
Zodiac Aerospace (Formerly Pioneer Aerospace)
This South Windsor, Connecticut aerospace company designed and manufactured the parachute that slowed the spacecraft in the atmosphere. The company also supplied the supersonic parachute for the heavier Curiosity rover in 2011.
The parachute opened while the craft was travelling at a velocity of Mach 1.66. The reinforced parachute slowed the craft to 135 mph by the time it reached a height of 1 km (3280 feet) above the surface.
The parachute has a disk-gap-band configuration and a diameter of 38 feet, 9 inches. When deployed, it extended 85 feet above the craft.
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and SolAero Technologies
The lander is powered by two near-circular, 10-sided solar arrays, each 7.05 feet in diameter. The arrays were stowed before landing in a folded configuration similar to a hand fan. The arrays generate a combined 600-700 watts on a clear day, with an expected 200-300 watts on a dusty day. The high-efficiency triple-junction solar cells were supplied by SolAero Technologies Corp., based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The arrays themselves are built on UltraFlex panels, provided by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (formerly Orbital ATK-Goleta), which is based in Goleta, California.
EaglePicher Technologies
While the cruise stage and lander are powered by solar panels, the spacecraft also needed batteries to ensure power in the dark. Battery technology company EaglePicher Technologies, based in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, provided a pair of 30 amp-hour, 28-volt lithium-ion batteries, as well as an additional single-use thermal battery supplementing power during EDL.
According to the company, the two main batteries are about half the size of a typical microwave oven, which is much smaller than the battery EaglePicher provided for the ISS, which was larger than a coffee table.
"The solar provides some of the energy to provide charge for the batteries," he said. "When they need more power or when they have low light or no light, the batteries provide power for the vehicle. And again on it we also made thermal batteries, which were used on the deployment subsystems to be able to safely land the vehicle on the surface of Mars,” said Ron Nowlin, vice president and general manager of aerospace systems at EaglePicher, in an interview with the Joplin Globe Newspaper. “You know, it's kind of amazing to sit and think: 'Oh, yeah, by the way, we've got a product we made that's going to touch down on the surface of Mars today.”
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
The Italian national space agency provided LaRRI, the dome-shaped laser retroreflector affixed to the top of the lander’s deck. Inside the dome are eight special reflectors. While the LaRRI does not serve a purpose related to the mission’s seismic measurements, it did help precisely measure the lander’s location using a laser altimeter. It may also be used for a future Mars orbiter mission, according to NASA.
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
This organization provided InSight’s Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe, also called HP3 (H-P cubed). This device will provide the first precise determination of the amount of heat escaping from the planet’s interior. The lander’s robotic arm will place the probe on the ground, next to the burrowing mechanical mole which will dig 10 to 16 feet into the ground.
Other Contributors
It takes a lot of science, innovation and engineering to throw a chunk of aluminum 300 million miles and stick the landing. As you can tell from this list, much of the work was based on knowledge and resources gained on previous missions.
Of course, Lockheed Martin’s complete supply chain isn’t public knowledge. There may be other minor contributors to the InSight Lander’s manufacturing that we missed in this list. If you know of a contractor or organization that worked on the InSight project, let us know in the comments below.
Like all successful NASA missions, InSight demonstrates that the biggest obstacle to space exploration and innovation isn’t technology or engineering know-how, it’s simply a matter of politics and budget. Here’s hoping that the future continues to look bright for human exploration to Mars, the Moon and beyond.
Interested in what InSight will do now that it's safely landed? check out the article YES! NASA's InSight Rover Landed on Mars. Here's What's Next.