NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission

The number of Indian space enthusiasts who submitted their names to NASA to be carried to Mars onboard the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heart Transport) mission to the Red Planet, which launches on 5 May 2018. They were provided online ‘boarding passes’ for the mission.

The names are being etched on a silicon wafer microship using an electron beam to form letters with lines one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. The chip is affixed to the InSight lander deck and will remain on Mars forever.

The US had the most number of people (6,76,773) sending their names followed by China with 2,62,752 names. India stands at number three. Space experts attribute India being ranked among the first three nations to the excitement and interest in Mars flights triggered by India’s ground-breaking Mangalyaan mission.

“Mars continues to excite space enthusiasts of all ages,” said Bruce Banerdt, the Insight mission’s principal investigator. “This opportunity lets them become a part of the spacecraft that will study the inside of the Red Planet.”

Insight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by listening for marsquakes. These quakes travel through geologic material at different speeds and give scientists a glimpse of the composition and structure of the planet’s inside.

 

Picture Credit : Google