PIA22316: MarCOs, Mars and Earth
 Mission:  MarCO
 Product Size:  4338 x 5479 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA22316.tif (25.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA22316.jpg (966.5 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

An artist's rendering of the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft flying over Mars with Earth in the distance. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- flown in deep space. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space.

The MarCO and InSight projects are managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2018-03-29