NASA Mars Mission Postponed Due To Spacecraft Leak

The mission was planned to launch in March 2016.

“We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we’re not ready to launch in the 2016 window”.

Bruce Banerdt, the InSight principal investigator, said that InSight’s investigation of the Mars planet’s interior will give a better understanding of how rocky planet like Mars and Earth were formed and evolved. Key to its success is the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), which can record ground motions of less than 1 micron (0.001 mm) over a broad range of frequencies.

“A decision on a path forward will be made in the coming months, but one thing is clear: NASA remains fully committed to the scientific discovery and exploration of Mars”.

Scientists have high hopes for the probe, expecting it to tell them how Mars is cooling, whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth’s, and why Mars’ crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like they do on Earth. The seismometer was provided by France’s Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES).

In a statement, NASA says, “The instrument requires a vacuum seal around its three main sensors to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment”. But the instrument’s sensors must operate in a vacuum with a pressure of no more than 1 microbar, and the vacuum seal failed during testing.

NASA chose to suspend its seismic investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport or inSight mission due to leaking and failure to hold a vacuum in extreme cold temperature. While Science reports that the space agency will have to wait “at least 26 months before it can try to launch again”, it is unclear whether InSight will ever leave Earth.

So far, the USA space agency has spent $525 million on the program, including buying an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and Boeing (BA.N). It’s too early to determine the potential cost of repairing the leak.

NASA insists the delayed launch of the InSight does not jeopardize NASA’s overall goal of reaching Mars, although Mars enthusiasts are taking the news rather hard.