NASA suspends 2016 launch of Mars probe

The next possible launch window for the InSight lander is in mid-2018. The seismometer provided by France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales required a vacuum seal around at its three main sensors to withstand the harsh conditions on the mars.

The instruments have been created to measure movements as small as the diameter of an atom.

Officially called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), NASA thought they were able to fix the leak, but recent tests in the extreme cold temperatures proved the instrument could not hold a vacuum seal.

Earlier this year, NASA team have fixed a leak in the seismometer.

The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), another major instrument of InSight has been supplied by German Aerospace Center (DLR).

“The vacuum issue is the only thing that was standing between us and launch”, Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told CNN.

After landing on Mars, InSight was created to detect quakes and other seismic activities, as well as measure how much heat is being released from the planet’s subsurface and monitor Mars’ wobble – or variations in its orbit – as it circles the sun.

NASA planetary sciences division director Jim Green was quoted by Reuter, saying that the cost of the InSight mission, including launch and data analysis, has shot up from an initial $425m to $675m.

Insight 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.

Mars will give a better understanding of Earth’s early development because the crust and the mantle of the red planet have been undisturbed as compared to Earth.

A United States technology satellite planned to start in March to Mars continues to be seated as a result of trickle in a vital study device, NASA stated on Thursday, making doubt concerning the widely-anticipated work review the inside of the planet’s potential.