The InSight stationary lander is based on NASA’s Phoenix lander, which set down at the Martian North Pole in 2008, and is designed for a 720-day primary mission near the Martian equator.
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The space agency has said they are suspending the March 2016 launch of its InSight mission to Mars because of problems with a scientific instrument.
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It’s a disappointment to scientists who viewed the mission as a planetary science priority.
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“Unfortunately, since last August, we have been fighting a series of very small leaks, but leaks that were big enough that we wouldn’t be able to accomplish our mission”, John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for the science mission directorate and a former astronaut, told reporters during a call on Tuesday. “When you challenge scientists and engineers to do something that’s never been done before, sometimes things don’t work out the way you want”. NASA managers chose to delay the mission after running out of time to troubleshoot a problem with its vacuum-sealed seismometer, which was designed and is being provided by France’s Centre National Études Spatiales (CNES).
A leak occurred earlier this year that had prevented the seismometer from retaining vacuum conditions. The officials determined that the time is limited to fix such a leak. However, while recently conducting a test in acute cold temperature of -45 degrees Celsius, the device again experienced failure. “The whole project team has been giving it everything they’ve got for many months to try to make this launch opportunity, so we are understandably disappointed”.
“It s the first time ever that such a sensitive instrument has been built”, said Marc Pircher, Director of CNES s Toulouse Space Centre.
NASA’s next Mars mission will remain earthbound for at least two years.
NASA’s Mars missions so far have largely explored the surface geology and properties of Mars.
All of the activity is created to help NASA prepare for the ultimate mission: sending astronauts to the Red Planet two decades from now.
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Bruce Banerdt, the InSight principal investigator, said that InSight’s investigation of the Mars planet’s interior will give a better understanding of how rocky planet like Mars and Earth were formed and evolved. “It’s not a disaster, it’s a minor hiccup on our path to getting this information on Mars and our place in the universe”.
