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, Rachel Courtland reports on
NASA's InSight Mars lander, one of five spacecraft that could reach the
planet in 2015.

Originally Posted by Rachel Courtland, IEEE Spectrum

As IEEE Spectrum went to press, the InSight team was still working to resolve a problem with the spacecraft’s seismometer package but aimed to keep to a scheduled March launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will reach the Martian surface in September, where it will use seismometers to listen for quakes created as the planet slowly cools and contracts, vibrations rippling out from colliding meteoroids, and other sources of motion. Researchers hope to use the sound waves to build a picture of the interior of the planet, much as signals generated in a sonogram are used to image the body.

Article here -
http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/r...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.

Originally Posted by John Gunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science

“We’re looking at some time in the May 2018 timeframe"

Originally Posted by Dan Leone, spacenews.com

NASA first confirmed defects with SEIS on Dec. 3, saying the instrument had suffered “a leak in the vacuum container carrying its main sensors.” The leak disclosed Dec. 3 was caused by a defective weld on the instrument’s vacuum tank, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall told SpaceNews Dec. 8. At the time, Le Gall said CNES had performed a new weld that should have fixed the problem. Apparently, it did not.

Story here -
http://spacenews.com/mars-insight-la...unches-at-all/

[deanm (Dean)]

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 (Doug)]

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.