Testing is underway on NASA’s next mission on the journey to Mars, a stationary lander scheduled to launch in March 2016. The lander is called InSight, an abbreviation for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. It is about the size of a car and will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the Red Planet. (…) The current testing will help ensure InSight can operate in and survive deep space travel and the harsh conditions of the Martian surface. (…)
“Today, our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way, making great progress on the journey to Mars,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “Together, humans and robotics will pioneer Mars and the solar system.” [More at link]