In November 2018 historical event took place on the surface of Mars and landed a probe InSight, designed to study the internal structure of the planet. His main instrument, the seismometer to monitor leaking inside the planet’s processes have been installed in working position on December 19. Until now, NASA had carefully set up the machine and it worked without a hitch and gave high-quality data without interference, coated it with a special dome to protect from wind and temperature changes.
According to NASA device for the study of the structure and dynamics of the red planet has a high degree of sensitivity — a feature that makes it both powerful and vulnerable sensor. The quality of his performance can affect even the slight Martian wind and especially temperature fluctuations which can vary up to 90 degrees Celsius. The wind emits excess noise itself, and changes in temperature make the components of the seismometer miserably to shrink and expand.
Researchers usually protect the seismometers from external influences, burying them in deep pits. In the case of InSight such an approach is impossible, so NASA initially decided to use for this protective dome. It has an aerodynamic shape and a “skirt” of chain mail, so it fits snugly against the Martian soil. It also has a lot of resistant to the temperature materials — they don’t give divided too much heat during the day or too cool at night.
Recall that at the end of 2018, the sensors InSight recorded the noise of the Martian wind blowing with a speed of 5-7 meters per second. To listen to these recordings in our article of 8 December. It is noteworthy that the holding of these records was not planned it happened spontaneously.
What do you think, what other factors can interfere with the probe InSight? Their suggestions write in the comments or in our Telegram chat!