Insight

Nasa has postponed the launch of its Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission until May 2018, due to a vacuum leak detected on one of the payloads of the spacecraft last December.

The InSight mission intends to help scientists to understand the formation and evolution of rocky planets, including Earth, by studying the deep interior of Mars. Originally planned to launch this month, it will now land on Mars by November 2018.

In preparation for the launch, the agency’s jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, US, will redesign, build and perform qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), which failed in December.

France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) space agency will be involved in integrating the instrument and conduct test activities of InSight.

Both agencies plan to hold interim reviews over the next six months to evaluate technical progress and continue feasibility of their respective projects for the mission.

Nasa Washington science mission directorate associate administrator John Grunsfeld said: "The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the Nasa and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound.

"The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades."

"The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades."

Led by Nasa JPL’s principal investigator Bruce Banerdt, the InSight mission involves the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and its international science team includes researchers from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

Part of the space agency’s discovery programme, the InSight mission’s spacecraft and its cruise stage and lander have been built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, and had been delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, last December ahead of its launch.

Following the detection of the vacuum leak, the spacecraft was returned to Lockheed Martin’s facility last month.

Image: Artist’s concept depicting InSight Mars lander fully deployed for studying the deep interior of Mars. Photo: courtesy of Nasa.