Although NASA doesn't plan on putting humans on Mars until the 2030s, they are still aiming to put the first "lander" on the Red Planet in 2018 in order to get a better idea of its atmosphere and physical characteristics and fill in the current gaps in our knowledge of the planet.
"There are lot of things about Mars we do not know," said Larry James, deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We seek to know the interior of the plant, penetrate the ground for up to 10 meters or more, do a follow-up on the next rover in 2020 and check the samples on the surface."
"The current experiments are to check whether there was ever any life on Mars," he added. "After putting the man on Mars, humanity has to decide what to do next. It is going to be an international collaborative effort as individually we can't do it. We have about 10 projects."
NASA will launch the Interior Exploration using the Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander on May 5, 2018, with a planned landing on Mars scheduled for Nov. 26 of the same year.
The spacecraft's original 2016 launch was ruined by a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument, which was fixed through the reworking of the seismometer's vacuum container. Despite this setback, the agency is committed to its current 2018 launch date.
"The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We're excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018."
Mars is of great interest to scientists working in the field of planetary exploration because "it has more to offer, it is closer, more earth-like than the moon, has atmosphere to make oxygen and lots of potential," according to James.
NASA is currently conducting joint projects with firms in Spain, Israel and India in order to create propulsion systems, spacecraft and radars, among other technologies, for the mission.
