NASA's next spacecraft destined for Mars, the InSight, has officially arrived at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and will undergo final preparations before its launch in March 2016 and expected landing on the red planet approximately six months later, according to a press release.
The spacecraft was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and the airbase staff are prepping for a tight schedule - during the period of Mar. 4 to Mar. 30, they will need to install and test the spacecraft's seismometer, one of the mission's key instruments, to ensure that it holds up during its travels.
"InSight has traveled the first leg of its journey, getting from Colorado to California, and we're on track to start the next leg, to Mars, with a launch in March," said Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The spacecraft's seismometer was provided by France's national space agency (CNES) and is comprised of three sensors surrounded by a vacuum container. Maintaining the integrity of this vacuum is integral for the instrument's high sensitivity, which is needed to measure ground motions as small as the width of an atom. A leak in the vacuum is currently the only problem that has been detected, and it is now undergoing futher testing.
The InSight will mark the first mission to Mars launched from California and is a part of NASA's Discovery Program.
