What’s Shakin’ on Mars?

If a Marsquake occurs and there isn’t a spacecraft to measure it, did it really happen?

You may remember earlier this year I interviewed a ULA engineer about an upcoming mission to Mars. That mission, InSight, is set to land on the red planet in LESS THAN A WEEK! As you may remember landing on Mars is an enormous feat so it will be incredibly exciting to see if on Monday InSight makes it in one piece. This spacecraft will have an instrument aboard to tell us what the seismic activity is like on Mars. Does it quake, shake, and bake? (alright I added that last bit) Before I get started on how you can tune in to the event, I definitely recommend you check out my interview from the launch here.

Alright, for Monday’s activities you can tune in to NASA TV.  To get to the Media Channel versus public just scroll to the guide and you can click which channel there.

All times are for Monday, 11/26
6:00 am- 10:00 am EST (11:00 – 15:00 UTC) Mars InSight Live Shots (Media Channel)
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm EST (18:30 – 20:30 UTC) Mars InSight Clean Feed of cameras inside JPL Mission Control with mission audio only (Media Channel)
2:00 pm EST (19:00 UTC) Mars InSight Landing Live Commentary (Public Channel) 
5:00 pm EST (22:00 UTC) Mars InSight Post-Landing News Conference (All Channels)

You may be wondering why there are two programs going on during the landing. The one on the media channel will let you sit in and eaves drop on what is happening in the control room whereas the public channel will have someone narrating what is going on along with clips to explain what is happening.

Here is the general low down of what is happening when during the landing.
2:40 pm EST (19:40 UTC) Cruise stage jettisons from spacecraft and turns to entry
2:42 pm EST (19:42 UTC)  Ends turn
2:50 pm EST (19:50 UTC) Parachute deploys
2:51 pm EST (19:51 UTC) Heat shield jettisons and lander legs deploy from spacecraft
2:53 pm EST (19:53 UTC) Lander separates, descent engines fire and touchdown!

Happy Exploring!