What’s the sound of a touchdown on

But in the minutes before that, NASA’s InSight team will be monitoring the Mars lander’s radio signals using a variety of spacecraft — and even radio telescopes here on Earth — to suss out what’s happening 91 million miles (146 million km) away.

Because these signals are captured by several spacecraft, they’re relayed to Earth in different ways and at different times. That means the mission team may know right away when InSight touches down, or they may have to wait up to several hours.

Here’s how NASA will be listening for the next Mars landing on November 26.

This animation depicts the MarCO CubeSats relaying data (blue) from NASA’s InSight lander (green) as InSight enters the Martian atmosphere.

Radio Telescopes

As the InSight lander descends into Mars’ atmosphere, it will broadcast simple radio signals called “tones” back to Earth. Engineers will be tuning in from two locations: the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy’s facility at Effelsberg, Germany. Their results will be relayed to Mission Control at

The MarCOs are experimental technology. But if they work as they should, the pair will transmit the whole story of EDL as it’s unfolding. That might include an image from InSight of the Martian surface right after the lander touches down.

InSight

After it touches down, InSight will essentially yell, “I made it!” Seven minutes later, the spacecraft says it again — but a little louder and clearer.

The first time, it will communicate with a tone beacon that the radio telescopes will try to detect. The second time, it will send a “beep” from its more powerful X-band antenna, which should now be pointed at Earth. This beep includes slightly more information and is only heard if the spacecraft is in a healthy, functioning state. If NASA’s Deep Space Network picks up this beep, it’s a good sign that InSight survived the landing. Engineers will need to wait until early evening to find out if the lander successfully deployed its solar arrays.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Besides the MarCO CubeSats, NASA’s MRO will be soaring over Mars, recording InSight’s data during descent.

MRO will hold on to the data it records during EDL as it disappears over the Martian horizon. When it comes back around from the other side, it will play back that data for engineers to study. By 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m.

About InSight

JPL manages InSight for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.

A number of European partners, including France’s Center National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP³) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.