Space & Astronomy

Delayed Mars probe is set for launch in 2018

By T.K. Randall
September 7, 2016 ·  6 comments

An artist's impression of InSight deploying its instruments on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL Originally scheduled for launch in March 2016, the InSight lander, which stands for 'Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport', is part of the space agency's ongoing efforts to learn as much as possible about the Red Planet.

Its instruments include a seismometer to measure quakes and tremors and a small probe-like device that will drill in to the ground to detect how much heat is coming from the planet's core.The mission's ultimate goal will be to help scientists understand how Mars and the other rocky terrestrial planets in our solar system originally formed more than four billion years ago.

The probe had been due to launch earlier this year but due to a persistent vacuum failure in one of its scientific instruments this ended up being delayed and is now scheduled for May 2018 instead.

"Our robotic scientific explorers such as InSight are paving the way toward an ambitious journey to send humans to the Red Planet," said NASA's Geoff Yoder.


Source: Tech Times | Comments (6)

Tags: NASA, Mars, InSight