InSight Animation

[BananaTime101]

I'm just wondering about something. I get it that insight has been delayed till 2018 but why haven't we seen an animation yet? (I always like to watch them and recreate them in KSP) does anyone else feel the same way or know why we haven't seen one? Thanks -Banana

[Nibb31]

Why spend money on PR when the mission is on the verge of being cancelled?

[BananaTime101]

I suppose that makes sense but I do hope that InSight doesn't get cancelled. Can't see that happening though since it's going to be sitting in a warehouse for two years. 

[fredinno]

3 hours ago, BananaIsAFruit said:

I suppose that makes sense but I do hope that InSight doesn't get cancelled. Can't see that happening though since it's going to be sitting in a warehouse for two years. 

Here is the animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WEBYIo_PM

3 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

Why spend money on PR when the mission is on the verge of being cancelled?

It's not getting cancelled, the spacecraft is near complete aside from one instrument.

[Nibb31]

The mission is cost-capped, meaning that if they don't get a budget extension (which isn't allowed on cost-capped missions) to find out why the SEIS instrument leaked and fix it, then cancellation is a possibility.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Nibb31

[BananaTime101]

14 hours ago, fredinno said:

Here is the animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WEBYIo_PM

It's not getting cancelled, the spacecraft is near complete aside from one instrument.

That's cool. But what would be AWESOME, is a launch, cruise and EDL animation.

[Nibb31]

Launch, cruise, and EDL are identical to Phoenix and MPL.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Nibb31

[fredinno]

2 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

Launch, cruise, and EDL are identical to Phoenix and MPL.

That's for Phoenix.

[Nibb31]

Since InSight is basically a clone of Phoenix, except for the instruments:

4 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

Launch, cruise, and EDL are identical to Phoenix and MPL.

The only difference in the video is that Phoenix was launched on a Delta II and InSight was to launch on an Atlas V (the Delta II variant used for Phoenix is no longer available).

Edited February 5, 2016 by Nibb31

[Rybo]

I have some college buddies that work InSight at the Waterton facility in Colorado. I'll ask them what kind of rumors they are hearing regarding potential cancellation.

[Rybo]

As a follow up...I talked to one friend in particular that seems to think that there won't be a cancellation but a "significant delay and probable rebranding." They have had several ARB's (Action/Administrative Review Board) and are currently generating a new proposal that he didn't have details, or at least wouldn't share them. He did say that there had recently been and out-flow of people from the program going to other programs on the plant like GOES, and GPS. He wasn't clear whether those were layoffs or not.

I've done a lot of extrapolation from our conversation so take all this with a grain of salt but I got the impression from him that the InSight mission is scrubbed but that the spacecraft itself will be placed in storage and reused with a new program name and new instrumentation as a way to bypass the cost restrictions but still recover some of the investments. In his opinion they will have the spacecraft ready by the 2020 window. It'll certainly be interesting to see what the future holds.

[Nibb31]

Thanks for the input. That makes sense, juste like Phoenix rose from the ashes of Mars Surveyor.

[Rybo]

27 minutes ago, Nibb31 said:

just like Phoenix rose from the ashes of Mars Surveyor.

My thoughts exactly!

[fredinno]

3 hours ago, Rybo said:

As a follow up...I talked to one friend in particular that seems to think that there won't be a cancellation but a "significant delay and probable rebranding." They have had several ARB's (Action/Administrative Review Board) and are currently generating a new proposal that he didn't have details, or at least wouldn't share them. He did say that there had recently been and out-flow of people from the program going to other programs on the plant like GOES, and GPS. He wasn't clear whether those were layoffs or not.

I've done a lot of extrapolation from our conversation so take all this with a grain of salt but I got the impression from him that the InSight mission is scrubbed but that the spacecraft itself will be placed in storage and reused with a new program name and new instrumentation as a way to bypass the cost restrictions but still recover some of the investments. In his opinion they will have the spacecraft ready by the 2020 window. It'll certainly be interesting to see what the future holds.

A shame. Insight is basically cancelled, huh?

[Rybo]

4 hours ago, fredinno said:

A shame. Insight is basically cancelled, huh?

Don't think of it as cancelled. More like...re-purposed. 

Keep in mind that this is merely speculation on my part given the conversation I had. He dropped a lot of hints but he never explicitly stated anything. Also know that he is a sub-system engineer and not upper management so what he thinks he knows could be very different than the plans of the executive leadership.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Rybo