Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 7 May 2018

WALL-E and EVE on their way to Mars with InSight

another. That's to prevent
any collisions or even close
calls. While that may seem
far apart, it's actually fairly
close by space standards,
according to Brian Clem-
ent, an engineer on the
project at NASA's Jet Pro-
pulsion Laboratory in Pas-
adena, California. While
InSight will be stopping at
Mars on Nov. 26, WALL-E
and EVE will zoom past the
planet from about 2,200
miles (3,500 kilometers) out.
Don't expect any Thunder-
bird pilot-theatrics as the
cubes fly by, like a tilting
of the solar wings in salute.
"That would make a great
movie, but that's definitely
not the way we're going to
do it," Clement said.
EXTRA EARS:
Besides testing the cubes'
maneuvering system, NASA
wants to see if WALL-E and
EVE can transmit data to
Earth from InSight during
its descent to Mars. If the
experiment succeeds, it
should take just several
minutes for flight controllers
to hear from the cubes. No

This illustration made available by NASA on March 29, 2018 shows the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft flying over Mars worries if they're silent.
with Earth and the sun in the distance. NASA will rely on the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. cube-shaped satellites, fined to Earth orbit. That is fire extinguishers to spray already circling the planet
(AP) — NASA's next Mars CubeSats as they're known, changing with NASA's Mars foam. In the movie WALL- as the main communica-
explorer is going to have have set sail for deep Cube One project, or Mar- E, the title character uses tion link with InSight during
company all the way to space. The journey will CO. The European Space a fire extinguisher to pro- descent and touchdown.
the red planet: a couple of span 6 1/2 months and 300 Agency, meanwhile, has pel through space. Team It will take a lot longer,
puny yet groundbreaking million miles (485 million ki- its CubeSat sights on the members couldn't resist though, to get confirma-
sidekicks. lometers). moon. A recent competi- the connection, thus the tion. The beauty of a Cube-
Named after the charac- A brief look at the $18.5 tion yielded two winning names WALL-E and EVE, Sat relay system is that it
ters in the 2008 animated million experiment tagging proposals: a CubeSat to after WALL-E's love inter- could provide descent in-
movie, the small satellites along with InSight: explore the moon's far side est, for the two mini-space- formation at planets and
WALL-E and EVE hitched a ___ from lunar orbit, and anoth- craft. Engineers want to other cosmic stop-offs lack-
ride on the Atlas V rocket MINI SATS: er to probe a permanently test this compact propul- ing established communi-
that launched early Sat- Miniature satellites, or shadowed crater near the sion system for guiding the cations.
urday from California with CubeSats, have been pig- moon's south pole, also 30-pound (13.6-kilogram) POST MARS:
the Mars InSight lander. gybacking on big-ticket from lunar orbit. NASA is cubes to Mars. Once past Mars, WALL-E
Similar in size to a briefcase space missions for well also looking to send Cube- GETTING TO MARS: and EVE will remain in an el-
or large cereal box, the sat- over a decade, provid- Sats to the moon, as well as WALL-E and EVE will trail liptical orbit around the sun,
ellites popped out from the ing relatively cheap and an asteroid. a few thousand miles (ki- together for years to come.
rocket's upper stage after fast access to orbit for stu- MOVIE CONNECTION: lometers) behind InSight But they won't work for long.
liftoff and are hightailing dents and other out-of-the- It turns out that these twin en route to Mars. The two Once they run out of fuel,
it to Mars, right behind In- mainstream experimenters. cubes are equipped with mini-spacecraft will also be they won't be able to point
Sight. Until now, the hundreds of the same type of cold gas a few thousand miles (ki- their solar wings toward the
This is the first time little CubeSats have been con- propulsion system used in lometers) apart from one sun for recharging.q