NASA's robotic explorer to Mars, the InSight Mars Lander, has hit the assembly, test and launch operations (ATLO) phase, according to Tech Times.
The Lander along with a protective casing and the cruise stage are being assembled in Colorado by the Lockheed Martin, according to NASA Spaceflight. Electrical materials, avionics, thermal and navigational pieces are arriving at the assembly facility in Denver where the Lander will be built by engineers over the next six months.
"This is a very satisfying point of the mission as we transition from many teams working on their individual elements to integrating these elements into a functioning system ... We will then move rapidly to rigorous testing when the spacecraft has been assembled, and then to the launch preparations," InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman said, according to Tech Times.
InSight stands for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport." The Lander's job will be to examine the surface of Mars and analyze the planet's place in the development of our solar system, according to Tech Times. According to the mission homepage, no one has attempted to go beyond the rocks - to study the "building blocks" of the Red Planet.
There are a few accessories that the Lander will carry, according to Tech Times. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package will be used to measure geothermal heat running from the core of Mars. The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) will analyze vibrations caused by meteorites and marsquakes. A robotic arm will be used to handle instruments that will drill through the plant's surface.
In other words, the Lander will measure "the planet's 'vital signs': Its 'pulse' (seismology), 'temperature' (heat flow probe), and 'reflexes' (precision tracking)."
"In terms of fundamental processes that shape planetary formation, Mars is a veritable 'Goldilocks' planet, because it is big enough to have undergone the earliest internal heating and differentiation (separation of the crust, mantle and core) processes that shaped the terrestrial planets (Earth, Venus, Mercury, Moon), but small enough to have retained the signature of those processes over the next four billion years," according to the mission homepage. "Within its own structural signature, Mars may contain the most in-depth and accurate record in the solar system of these processes."
InSight is set to launch in March 2016 and will arrive on Mars by September 2016. The mission is scheduled to end Sept. 18, 2018.
