NASA is a victim of President Trump’s government shut down. More than 14,000 NASA employees got an unwanted Christmas gift from Trump when he decided closing down the government would help his cause to build a $5 billion wall. NASA is one of the government agencies that will get its 2019 funding from the seven appropriation bills that Congress hasn’t passed yet. But 3,000 NASA workers are still on the job. They won’t get a paycheck, but they will still operate and communicate with the unmanned spacecraft NASA calls the “InSight Lander.” The InSight lander is in position to land on Mars after a seven-month voyage to the red planet.
According to NASA, the InSight will land on Mars on Christmas Eve. InSight’s mission is to study Marsquakes and the planet’s mysterious interior. Landing a spacecraft on Mars isn’t easy. The spacecraft will travel through the atmosphere of Mars at 12,500 mph, so putting on the brakes right before InSight hits the ground is a delicate process. InSight’s thick heat shield will protect the probe from the hotter-than-hot temperatures while friction builds up on the surface. And at just the right time, the InSight probe will drop the heat shield, engage a parachute, extends its three legs, and land like a space-age pro. The secret to the safe landing lies in the 12 engines that engage as the spacecraft reaches the ground.
The United States has a lot of experience landing spacecraft on Mars. But not all those spacecraft’s landed the way NASA wanted them to land. InSight will have to function without the slightest glitch for six minutes as it goes through the landing process.
A 2016 European Space Agency probe slammed into the surface of Mars due to a computer glitch. The remains of that spacecraft fill a small portion of a Mars desert. But according to NASA officials, the InSight Lander’s computer, and all the programs on the probe work the way they should. The U.S. space agency’s mission control room set up a live feed so space lovers can watch InSight as it falls through the thin atmosphere of Mars and lands safely.
No one is sure if the government shut down will impact mission control’s live feed or NASA’s ability to operate and communicate with the Mars Lander. But it doesn’t help when most NASA employees are home watching the probe land instead of doing their jobs.
