InSight To Reach Mars by 2018

Rick Gilbrech, director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi says that they have exciting days ahead with a return to deep space and a journey to Mars, and the engine test they just successfully completed is a very big step in that direction. At the same time InSight is likely to have a launch window in May 2018 which would bring it to Mars by November 2018.

The InSight Mission is the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport mission to study the deep interior of Mars. Basically this mission is out to find out what lies below the surface of the Red Planet using these different methods of scientific study. Findings will help us understand how rocky planets developed and should give us some insight into how the Earth was also formed.

John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington said, “The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a long standing goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.” Needless to say there are still a whole number of challenges to be overcome before the successful culmination of this science project.