InSight lander - One of five spacecraft to make their way to Mars in 2016

[gary]

In a December 21 2015 article in the Institute of Electrical & Electronic
Engineer's (IEEE) Spectrum Magazine (http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/armada-of-martian-probes-will-study-the-planet-inside-and-out), Rachel Courtland reports on
NASA's InSight (http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/home.cfm) Mars lander, one of five spacecraft that could reach the
planet in 2015.



Article here -
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/armada-of-martian-probes-will-study-the-planet-inside-and-out

NASA InSight lander web page here -
http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/home.cfm

[gary]

In news today, the InSight team were unable to resolve a problem
with the spacecraft's French-designed seismometer package and
March's launch has been cancelled.





Story here -
http://spacenews.com/mars-insight-lander-wont-launch-until-2018-if-it-launches-at-all/

[deanm]

There was some discussion regarding the instrumentation used to monitor & measure vacuum - there was a possibility that the problem might lie with the measuring gear, rather than the sensor itself.

Unfortunately, that discussion has faded....

Dean

[goober]

Wow, that sucks. I know a guy at who was working on this at JPL - we've been friends for 20 years (the connection is not via Astronomy though). I know he was very excited about the launch next year. He's confirmed it won't be going ahead as planned.