MarCO: Interplanetary Mission Development on a CubeSat Scale

Abstract

Shortly after JPL’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission launches, separates, and commences its cruise phase, two CubeSats will deploy from the launch vehicle’s upper stage and begin independent flight to Mars (Fig. 1). During InSight’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence, these twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft will fly 3500 km above the Martian surface, recording and relaying InSight UHF radio data to the Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth [1].