NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission has a new launch date of May 5, 2018.
The InSight spacecraft aims to study the interior of Mars by drilling deep within. The sensors for the key instrument, a seismometer, need to operate in a vacuum chamber in order to measure subtle ground movements.
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A vacuum leak in the seismometer prevented the InSight mission from taking off on its original launch date in March.
The date still needs final approval from NASA’s science mission directorate.
The new launch date means the probe would land on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018. Opportunities to launch to Mars arise just every two years, based on the alignment of Earth and the neighbouring planet.
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NASA officials said in a news release that the delay added an extra $153.8 million to the budget, which had begun at $675 million. They said the additional money would not be taken from any current missions, though it may affect planned missions in the 2017-20 fiscal years.
Another NASA Mars lander — this one a car-sized, wheeled rover — is scheduled for a 2020 launch.
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*with files from the Associated Press