Idaho Skies Transcript for November 28th and 29th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for November 28th and 29th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
On Monday and Tuesday, we mentioned that the Mars InSight lander was arriving at Mars on the 26th. But that’s not all.

RACHEL
Along with the InSight lander are two CubeSats called Mars Cube One A and B, or MarCo A and MarCo B. CubeSats are nanospacecraft cubes measuring ten centimeters or four inches on a side. MarCo is a six-unit CubeSat that measures eight inches wide, twelve inches tall, and four inches thick. Until now, CubeSats have only been used in Earth orbit. This makes MarCo the first to leave Earth orbit, let alone reach Mars. 

PAUL
The CubeSat design was developed by California Polytechnic University and Stanford. They use off-the-shelf components to keep their cost very affordable. They are also very light meaning several can be launched at a time. They are typically launched as a secondary payload of the rocket launching its paying customer’s payload into orbit. The cubes are stacked one on top of the other and ejected from a tube called a P-Pod. Springs push the CubeSats out of the P-POD and away from the rocket only after the primary payload has left.

RACHEL
MarCo A and B are a test of how well CubeSat technology can function during a deep-space mission. If they are successful, they will relay data from the InSight lander back to Earth during InSight’s entry, descent, and landing. This will allow JPL to receive up to date information on InSight’s landing without having to wait hours later for a Mars-orbiting satellite to find time to relay the data after the landing. So far, MarCo A and B have successfully relayed images of a very distant Mars.

PAUL
Finally, stargazers looking for something interesting to see will want to look for the moon every early on the 28th. At around 1:00 AM, the moon will appear seven degrees from the Beehive star cluster. So aim your binoculars at the moon and then shift them to place the moon outside the view in the 7 o’clock position. The Beehive will appear at the 1 o’clock edge of your view. The cluster will appear about the size of the moon and contain over a dozen stars. 

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 28th and 29th of November.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.