Why was MarCO-B CubeSats flying away after InSight landed?











up vote
2
down vote

favorite












Farewell to Mars



MarCo cubesat image of Mars






November 26, 2018



MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. This image was taken at about 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) while MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after InSight landed.




I know the MarCO CubeSats had traveled through 7-months-long deep space journey all the way along with InSight probe to Mars. They both relay data and monitor throughout InSight's EDL procedures then transmit data back to Earth. However with the reference above, why MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after landing? I thought the two CubeSats would keep sticking to the orbit as InSight's company for the two-years-long mission? What would happens to MarCO-A in latter as well?










share|improve this question









New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
    – uhoh
    2 hours ago








  • 1




    @uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
    – uhoh
    1 hour ago















up vote
2
down vote

favorite












Farewell to Mars



MarCo cubesat image of Mars






November 26, 2018



MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. This image was taken at about 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) while MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after InSight landed.




I know the MarCO CubeSats had traveled through 7-months-long deep space journey all the way along with InSight probe to Mars. They both relay data and monitor throughout InSight's EDL procedures then transmit data back to Earth. However with the reference above, why MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after landing? I thought the two CubeSats would keep sticking to the orbit as InSight's company for the two-years-long mission? What would happens to MarCO-A in latter as well?










share|improve this question









New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
    – uhoh
    2 hours ago








  • 1




    @uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
    – uhoh
    1 hour ago













up vote
2
down vote

favorite









up vote
2
down vote

favorite











Farewell to Mars



MarCo cubesat image of Mars






November 26, 2018



MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. This image was taken at about 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) while MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after InSight landed.




I know the MarCO CubeSats had traveled through 7-months-long deep space journey all the way along with InSight probe to Mars. They both relay data and monitor throughout InSight's EDL procedures then transmit data back to Earth. However with the reference above, why MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after landing? I thought the two CubeSats would keep sticking to the orbit as InSight's company for the two-years-long mission? What would happens to MarCO-A in latter as well?










share|improve this question









New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











Farewell to Mars



MarCo cubesat image of Mars






November 26, 2018



MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took this image of Mars from about 4,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) away during its flyby of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. MarCO-B was flying by Mars with its twin, MarCO-A, to attempt to serve as communications relays for NASA’s InSight spacecraft as it landed on Mars. This image was taken at about 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) while MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after InSight landed.




I know the MarCO CubeSats had traveled through 7-months-long deep space journey all the way along with InSight probe to Mars. They both relay data and monitor throughout InSight's EDL procedures then transmit data back to Earth. However with the reference above, why MarCO-B was flying away from the planet after landing? I thought the two CubeSats would keep sticking to the orbit as InSight's company for the two-years-long mission? What would happens to MarCO-A in latter as well?







mars artificial-satellite nasa insight






share|improve this question









New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 1 hour ago





















New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 4 hours ago









si_the_nibba

858




858




New contributor




si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






si_the_nibba is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
    – uhoh
    2 hours ago








  • 1




    @uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
    – uhoh
    1 hour ago


















  • I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
    – uhoh
    2 hours ago








  • 1




    @uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
    – uhoh
    1 hour ago
















I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
– uhoh
2 hours ago






I hope you don't mind that I added the actual image. This is a pretty historic item! Feel free to edit or adjust further.
– uhoh
2 hours ago






1




1




@uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
– si_the_nibba
1 hour ago




@uhoh Definitely one of the most breathtaking image. I saw it on JPL's IG of course I wouldn't mind it.
– si_the_nibba
1 hour ago




1




1




You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
– uhoh
1 hour ago




You can see the camera that took this image in this answer
– uhoh
1 hour ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
4
down vote













Neither the MarCO satellites nor InSight itself had the ability to enter Martian orbit - the interplanetary approach to Mars is quite fast, and it takes a lot of fuel to slow down enough for Mars to capture a probe. InSight itself used Mars's atmosphere to slow itself down, but the MarCO satellites had neither heat shields nor significant maneuvering capacity, so they had no way to stop.



MarCO wasn't required for the InSight EDL, by the way; their ability to relay telemetry in real time was convenient but not critical to the mission. They were more of a technology demonstration than a necessary piece of the system.






share|improve this answer





















  • So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
    – si_the_nibba
    3 hours ago






  • 1




    MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
    – Russell Borogove
    2 hours ago










  • Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
    – Russell Borogove
    1 hour ago










  • Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago


















up vote
0
down vote













The MarCOs where sent together with InSight, towards mars.



They don't have any way of propelling themself; so they cannot alter their trajectory.



Since they where BEFORE InSight corrected itself towards a collision course, they had no other chance but to do a flyby of Mars.



InSight was on a collision course, and lost it's orbital velocity in Mars atmosphere.



Since one of the CubeSats goals was to relay telemetry to earth right after/during the landing, they couldn't be made to land with InSight since they wouldn't have been able to relay InSight signals.






share|improve this answer





















    Your Answer





    StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
    return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
    StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
    StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
    });
    });
    }, "mathjax-editing");

    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "508"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });






    si_the_nibba is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










     

    draft saved


    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fspace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f32328%2fwhy-was-marco-b-cubesats-flying-away-after-insight-landed%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes








    up vote
    4
    down vote













    Neither the MarCO satellites nor InSight itself had the ability to enter Martian orbit - the interplanetary approach to Mars is quite fast, and it takes a lot of fuel to slow down enough for Mars to capture a probe. InSight itself used Mars's atmosphere to slow itself down, but the MarCO satellites had neither heat shields nor significant maneuvering capacity, so they had no way to stop.



    MarCO wasn't required for the InSight EDL, by the way; their ability to relay telemetry in real time was convenient but not critical to the mission. They were more of a technology demonstration than a necessary piece of the system.






    share|improve this answer





















    • So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
      – si_the_nibba
      3 hours ago






    • 1




      MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
      – Russell Borogove
      2 hours ago










    • Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago






    • 1




      They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
      – Russell Borogove
      1 hour ago










    • Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago















    up vote
    4
    down vote













    Neither the MarCO satellites nor InSight itself had the ability to enter Martian orbit - the interplanetary approach to Mars is quite fast, and it takes a lot of fuel to slow down enough for Mars to capture a probe. InSight itself used Mars's atmosphere to slow itself down, but the MarCO satellites had neither heat shields nor significant maneuvering capacity, so they had no way to stop.



    MarCO wasn't required for the InSight EDL, by the way; their ability to relay telemetry in real time was convenient but not critical to the mission. They were more of a technology demonstration than a necessary piece of the system.






    share|improve this answer





















    • So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
      – si_the_nibba
      3 hours ago






    • 1




      MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
      – Russell Borogove
      2 hours ago










    • Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago






    • 1




      They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
      – Russell Borogove
      1 hour ago










    • Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago













    up vote
    4
    down vote










    up vote
    4
    down vote









    Neither the MarCO satellites nor InSight itself had the ability to enter Martian orbit - the interplanetary approach to Mars is quite fast, and it takes a lot of fuel to slow down enough for Mars to capture a probe. InSight itself used Mars's atmosphere to slow itself down, but the MarCO satellites had neither heat shields nor significant maneuvering capacity, so they had no way to stop.



    MarCO wasn't required for the InSight EDL, by the way; their ability to relay telemetry in real time was convenient but not critical to the mission. They were more of a technology demonstration than a necessary piece of the system.






    share|improve this answer












    Neither the MarCO satellites nor InSight itself had the ability to enter Martian orbit - the interplanetary approach to Mars is quite fast, and it takes a lot of fuel to slow down enough for Mars to capture a probe. InSight itself used Mars's atmosphere to slow itself down, but the MarCO satellites had neither heat shields nor significant maneuvering capacity, so they had no way to stop.



    MarCO wasn't required for the InSight EDL, by the way; their ability to relay telemetry in real time was convenient but not critical to the mission. They were more of a technology demonstration than a necessary piece of the system.







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered 3 hours ago









    Russell Borogove

    77.5k2250336




    77.5k2250336












    • So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
      – si_the_nibba
      3 hours ago






    • 1




      MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
      – Russell Borogove
      2 hours ago










    • Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago






    • 1




      They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
      – Russell Borogove
      1 hour ago










    • Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago


















    • So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
      – si_the_nibba
      3 hours ago






    • 1




      MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
      – Russell Borogove
      2 hours ago










    • Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago






    • 1




      They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
      – Russell Borogove
      1 hour ago










    • Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
      – si_the_nibba
      1 hour ago
















    So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
    – si_the_nibba
    3 hours ago




    So MarCOs weren't its necessity at the first place? That said, InSight is able to take care of itself throughout the mission after landed?
    – si_the_nibba
    3 hours ago




    1




    1




    MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
    – Russell Borogove
    2 hours ago




    MarCOs weren't necessary; I believe InSight will rely on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a main communication relay with Earth going forward.
    – Russell Borogove
    2 hours ago












    Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago




    Where would they go after this? Are the two CubeSats going to slowly drift away into deep space overtime? That's sad, though.
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago




    1




    1




    They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
    – Russell Borogove
    1 hour ago




    They'll drift forever in an orbit around the sun, like many interplanetary probes and transfer stages have before them. They aren't going fast enough to leave the solar system.
    – Russell Borogove
    1 hour ago












    Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago




    Are those considered as space trash just like any other before the CubeSats?
    – si_the_nibba
    1 hour ago










    up vote
    0
    down vote













    The MarCOs where sent together with InSight, towards mars.



    They don't have any way of propelling themself; so they cannot alter their trajectory.



    Since they where BEFORE InSight corrected itself towards a collision course, they had no other chance but to do a flyby of Mars.



    InSight was on a collision course, and lost it's orbital velocity in Mars atmosphere.



    Since one of the CubeSats goals was to relay telemetry to earth right after/during the landing, they couldn't be made to land with InSight since they wouldn't have been able to relay InSight signals.






    share|improve this answer

























      up vote
      0
      down vote













      The MarCOs where sent together with InSight, towards mars.



      They don't have any way of propelling themself; so they cannot alter their trajectory.



      Since they where BEFORE InSight corrected itself towards a collision course, they had no other chance but to do a flyby of Mars.



      InSight was on a collision course, and lost it's orbital velocity in Mars atmosphere.



      Since one of the CubeSats goals was to relay telemetry to earth right after/during the landing, they couldn't be made to land with InSight since they wouldn't have been able to relay InSight signals.






      share|improve this answer























        up vote
        0
        down vote










        up vote
        0
        down vote









        The MarCOs where sent together with InSight, towards mars.



        They don't have any way of propelling themself; so they cannot alter their trajectory.



        Since they where BEFORE InSight corrected itself towards a collision course, they had no other chance but to do a flyby of Mars.



        InSight was on a collision course, and lost it's orbital velocity in Mars atmosphere.



        Since one of the CubeSats goals was to relay telemetry to earth right after/during the landing, they couldn't be made to land with InSight since they wouldn't have been able to relay InSight signals.






        share|improve this answer












        The MarCOs where sent together with InSight, towards mars.



        They don't have any way of propelling themself; so they cannot alter their trajectory.



        Since they where BEFORE InSight corrected itself towards a collision course, they had no other chance but to do a flyby of Mars.



        InSight was on a collision course, and lost it's orbital velocity in Mars atmosphere.



        Since one of the CubeSats goals was to relay telemetry to earth right after/during the landing, they couldn't be made to land with InSight since they wouldn't have been able to relay InSight signals.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 19 mins ago









        Antzi

        7,65312450




        7,65312450






















            si_the_nibba is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










             

            draft saved


            draft discarded


















            si_the_nibba is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













            si_the_nibba is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












            si_the_nibba is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.















             


            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fspace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f32328%2fwhy-was-marco-b-cubesats-flying-away-after-insight-landed%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            flock() on closed filehandle LOCK_FILE at /usr/bin/apt-mirror

            Mangá

            Eduardo VII do Reino Unido