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NASA Reschedules Launch of Troubled Mars Lander to 2018

NASA originally planned to launch the InSight mission this month, but vacuum leak in lander postponed it.

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US space agency NASA said on Wednesday that its Mars lander is now targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for November 26, 2018.

NASA originally planned to launch the Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission this month, but it was forced to call it off in December due to a vacuum leak in the prime science instrument of the lander.

The instrument involved was the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), a seismometer provided by the French Space Agency (CNES) that will help answer questions about the interior structure and processes within the deep Martian interior.

Designed to measure ground movements as small as the diametre of an atom, the instrument requires a vacuum seal around its three main sensors to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment.

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