Tag: InSight
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Mars spacecraft back on track to provide InSight into the Red Planet
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is back on track for a 2018 launch after the discovery of leaks in key instrumentation during testing forced NASA to abandon its original 2016 launch date. The spacecraft is now in final testing at its Lockheed Martin facility in Denver, ahead of…
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InSight lander’s troubled seismometer passes major test
The InSight spacecraft is pictured in 2015 at Lockheed Martin’s assembly facility near Denver. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin A balky interplanetary seismic instrument that ran into technical problems in 2015, forcing a two-year delay in the launch of NASA’s InSight lander to Mars, cleared a major test last week after engineers redesigned part of the sensor…
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NASA official says new mission selections on track despite InSight woes
Artist’s concept of the InSight lander on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A $150 million cost overrun and two-year launch delay for NASA’s InSight Mars mission could mean fewer opportunities for new planetary science missions in the next few years, but the head of the agency’s science division said this week NASA will still approve development of…
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NASA gives go-ahead to fix Mars InSight lander’s flaw and launch it in 2018
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s InSight lander on Mars. The SEIS instrument is in the chamber shown to the left of the lander platform. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech) NASA has approved plans to fix a flaw on its InSight lander in time for a launch to Mars in 2018. The flaw involves a leak in a…
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InSight Mars lander escapes cancellation, aims for 2018 launch
The InSight lander in its cruise stage configuration prior to undergoing acoustic testing at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin The InSight Mars lander has won a reprieve from NASA’s top managers after persistent problems with one of the probe’s science instruments caused the mission to miss a narrow launch window planned for this month. The…
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Mars set to receive NASA InSight at the end of 2018
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission has received a new flight schedule following a two-year delay. The lander, which will study the deep interior of Mars, is now set to launch in May 2018, ahead of a projected landing in November of that year. NASA InSight Mission: InSight was…
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Fate of NASA’s InSight Mars mission to be decided soon
Updated March 7. The back shell of the InSight spacecraft is lowered onto the lander in a clean room at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin NASA is close to deciding whether to spend an extra $150 million to send the InSight lander to Mars in 2018 or cancel the mission after an instrument problem made…
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Launch of NASA’s next Mars mission delayed until at least 2018
NASA’s InSight lander is pictured inside Lockheed Martin’s satellite factory in Colorado. Credit: Lockheed Martin Persistent problems with a seismometer instrument package will keep NASA’s InSight Mars lander from departing for the red planet during a March launch period, and officials said they will consider shelving the $675 million project if the issues prove too…
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NASA holds up InSight lander mission to Mars due to leaky seismic instrument
An artist’s conception shows the InSight lander on the surface of Mars. The SEIS instrument is the light-colored dome at lower left. (Credit: NASA) NASA says it’s putting off next year’s scheduled launch of its InSight lander mission to Mars until at least 2018, due to a persistent leak in the spacecraft’s main seismic-sensing instrument.…
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Two ‘microprobes’ to accompany InSight lander to Mars
Mechanical engineer Joel Steinkraus and systems engineer Farah Alibay hold a full-scale mechanical mock-up of a MarCO CubeSat. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA managers have formally approved the launch of two small CubeSat-based satellites with the InSight Mars lander next year, adding an experimental data relay capability to give ground controllers news about the landing’s outcome. Hundreds…