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NASA is preparing for next mission to Mars. NASA is planning to launch the lander Insight in March 2016, Insight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport.
The spacecraft will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The lander is expected to land on Red planet about six months later.
Insights will helps scientist to get insights on technical capabilities and knowledge, which is important to NASA’s other journey to Mars and other Mars mission, including the mission to send humans to Mars by 2030s.
Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the headquarters in Washington said, “Today, our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way, making great progress on the journey to Mars. Together, humans and robotics will pioneer Mars and the solar system”.
The lander will examine the planets deep interior and give information on how the planet has evolved geologically and offer clues on Earths future and the evolution of rocky planets.
It will be the first mission, which will reveal about the Red Planet’s cure.
The testing of the lander would help to ensure that it has the potential to operate and survive deep space travel and harsh conditions on Martian surface.
The lander will be tested in the company’s facility in Denver which built it.
The lander was built by Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems.
During the test, it will be exposed to extreme temperatures, vacuum conditions of nearly zero air pressure simulating interplanetary space, and battery of other tests over the next seven months.
Thermal vacuum will be tested, other tests will also include vibrations simulating launch and checking for electronic interference between different parts of the spacecraft.
The Insight mission is part of NASA’s Discovery program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The mission is led by Bruce Banedt, from JPL a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
