“We just don’t have enough time to find the leak, fix it and still make it to the launch pad in March”, John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science, said during a phone call with reporters.
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InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport, was expected to arrive at Mars in September to take measurements of the red planet’s interior and its atmosphere and to take color images.
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NASA said a decision on how to proceed with the mission will be made in the coming months.
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“We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we re not ready to launch in the 2016 window”, he said in a statement.
NASA managers and French designers of the instrument said Tuesday they must now decide whether the leak in the vacuum-sealed connector needs to be repaired, redesigned or the mission scrapped.
NASA officials determined there is insufficient time to resolve another leak, and complete the work and thorough testing required to ensure a successful mission. No planet besides Earth has yet been studied in this way, but the pouch that protects the spacecraft’s seismometer, which measures ground movement, is not holding a vacuum, according to NASA. This means that InSight will be returned from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to the Lockheed facility in Denver while scientists revisit their calculations for the next opportunity.
Engineers won’t be able to fix the problem in time for the lander’s scheduled March 2016 blast-off. However, it was launched later with high success.
Built by Lockheed Martin, the unmanned spacecraft was due to land on the red planet and drill deep into its surface to give scientists a better idea of how it was formed.
NASA’s next mission to Mars will be delayed at least two more years, if not indefinitely.
NASA is now working on three Mars missions with the European Space Agency and plans to send another rover to Mars in 2020.
The termination raises concerns concerning the potential of the study work because it is likely to be another 26 weeks before Mars and Planet are positively aimed to get a start. “It is more important to do it right than take an unacceptable risk”.
The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), another major instrument of InSight has been supplied by German Aerospace Center (DLR). SEIS has been provided by the French space agency CNES.
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NASA will hold a media teleconference at 3:30 p.m. EST today to provide details on the agency’s decision.
