{"id":19520,"date":"2015-12-22T20:09:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T12:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-holds-up-insight-lander-mission-to-mars-due-to-leaky-seismic-instrument\/"},"modified":"2015-12-22T20:09:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T12:09:06","slug":"nasa-holds-up-insight-lander-mission-to-mars-due-to-leaky-seismic-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-holds-up-insight-lander-mission-to-mars-due-to-leaky-seismic-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA holds up InSight lander mission to Mars due to leaky seismic instrument"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"InSight
An artist\u2019s conception shows the InSight lander on the surface of Mars. The SEIS instrument is the light-colored dome at lower left. (Credit: NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA says it\u2019s putting off next year\u2019s scheduled launch of its InSight lander mission to Mars until at least 2018, due to a persistent leak in the spacecraft\u2019s main seismic-sensing instrument.<\/p>\n

Mission managers had been working for months to track down a series of small leaks in the vacuum seal for the instrument, known as the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, or SEIS. The instrument was being built and tested for NASA under the direction of France\u2019s space agency, the Centre Nationale d\u2019Etudes Spatiales, or CNES.<\/p>\n

Up until Monday, managers had high hopes they could fix all the leaks in time for next March\u2019s liftoff atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But the results from a low-temperature vacuum test at a facility near Paris were so discouraging that they scratched the launch off the schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very close decision,\u201d Marc Pircher, director of CNES\u2019 Toulouse Space Center, told reporters during a teleconference.<\/p>\n

\"pluto\"
\nScience journalist Alan Boyle<\/strong> is the author of “The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made A Big Difference.”<\/p>\n

SEIS is one of the two key instruments for the InSight mission, which is aimed at monitoring seismic activity deep beneath the Red Planet\u2019s surface. \u201cInSight\u201d is a quasi-acronym, standing for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. The other instrument is the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, a German-built probe that\u2019s designed to burrow up to 16 feet (5 meters) underground.<\/p>\n

The SEIS instrument\u2019s three main sensors are designed to measure movements as small as the diameter of an atom. But the sensors have to be enclosed within a vacuum-sealed sphere that insulates them from Mars\u2019 harsh conditions. Vacuum chamber tests in France showed that the sphere couldn\u2019t hold a seal under Mars-like conditions.<\/p>\n

Pircher was confident that the leak can be fixed. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of a few months,\u201d he said. However, because of the orbital mechanics for flights between Earth and Mars, affordable launch opportunities come around only every 26 months.<\/p>\n

2016\u2019s opportunity extended from March 4 to March 30. The negative results from Monday\u2019s test led NASA and CNES to conclude that they ran out of time for 2016\u2019s opportunity. The next one comes in May 2018, said John Grunsfeld, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for science. \u201cThe 2018 opportunity is actually energetically more favorable, so it might mean a little bit wider launch window and opportunities for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Grunsfeld said InSight\u2019s science mission would have been ruined if SEIS had been sent in its current condition. \u201cIn some sense, we don\u2019t have a decision to make, because we\u2019re not ready to go,\u201d he said. \u201cIn another sense, I think it\u2019s much better that we have this discussion now, rather than send it to Mars and wishing we had the opportunity here on Earth to fix something.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that NASA would weigh its options in the coming weeks. The space agency hasn\u2019t yet committed itself to a launch in 2018, but the preferred path was clearly to go with a postponement rather than cancellation. \u201cI see this as a minor setback rather than a disaster,\u201d said InSight\u2019s principal investigator, Bruce Banerdt of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. \u201cIt\u2019s not a disaster. It\u2019s just a hiccup on our path to getting this kind of science, and this kind of understanding of our solar system and our place in the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n