On Friday, NASA announced that the Mars Lander that had been scheduled to be launched this year but was delayed due to serious technical issues would now be launced in 2018. It was supposed to be launced in March of this year but some of the technical problems needed a longer period of time to be repaired. The lander is expected to shed a lot of light on the 'inner workings of Mars', according to the website space.com.
In a statement, NASA stated, "NASA is moving forward with a spring 2018 launch of its InSight mission to study the deep interior of Mars, following final approval this week by the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission was originally scheduled to launch in March of this year, but NASA suspended launch preparations in December due to a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS). The new launch period for the mission begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018. The next launch opportunity is driven by orbital dynamics, so 2018 is the soonest the lander can be on its way."
Geoff Yoder, who is the associate administrator of Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said, "Our robotic scientific explorers such as InSight are paving the way toward an ambitious journey to send humans to the Red Planet.It's gratifying that we are moving forward with this important mission to help us better understand the origins of Mars and all the rocky planets, including Earth."
On the other hand, Jim Green, the Director of Planetary Science Division at NASA added, "We've concluded that a replanned InSight mission for launch in 2018 is the best approach to fulfill these long-sought, high-priority science objectives." The statement also elaborated about the costs of the mission, "NASA's budget for InSight was $675 million. The instrument redesign and two-year delay add $153.8 million. The additional cost will not delay or cancel any current missions, though there may be fewer opportunities for new missions in future years, from fiscal years 2017-2020."
