NASA’s InSight spacecraft is one step closer to exploring Mars.
InSight, the first Mars mission to the interior structure of the red planet, is fully assembled and now undergoing rigorous environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton.
Lockheed Martin engineers will soon subject InSight to conditions simulating the rigors of launch, the vacuum of space and the harsh entry conditions into the Martian atmosphere.
“The regimen is designed to wring out any issues with the spacecraft so we can resolve them while it’s here on Earth,” Stu Spath, Lockheed Martin InSight program manager, said in a statement. “This phase takes nearly as long as assembly, but we want to make sure we deliver a vehicle to NASA that will perform as expected in extreme environments.”
InSight will also undergo the rigors of separation and deployment shock, electromagnetic interference, and a second thermal vacuum test exposing it to simulated Martian planetary surface conditions, according to the release.
InSight won’t travel around the Martian surface as NASA’s Opportunity and Curiosity rovers do. Instead, it will drill into the planet and use several instruments, such as a seismometer and heat-flow probe, to study the planet’s interior.
The mission is geared to give scientists a better understanding of how planets of the inner solar system — including Earth — were formed.
InSight is scheduled to launch in March from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The science team, which includes researchers from 11 countries, is led by Bruce Banerdt of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@ or
