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| Mars lander InSight is scheduled to launch in May on a six month voyage. (NASA) |
By Charles A Atkeison
(AvGeekery.com) -- NASA's newest discovery mission to Mars will launch this spring to begin the first extensive exploration of the planet's internal structure.
The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) is scheduled to lift-off for the Red Planet and into a predawn sky on May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and land six months later upon the Martian plains of Elysium Planitia.
Launch officials will have only 35 days to launch the spacecraft during a period in which the Earth and Mars are perfrctly aligned. This mission will mark the first interplanetary mission to launch from the West Coast.
Taking the Temperature and Pulse of Mars
NASA hopes the spacecraft will provide new insight into several key questions such as does Mars have a liquid or solid core, and learn about the planet's internal motions including the Sun's effect on the fourth planet from our closest star.
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