New mission to Mars launch for May 2018 : NASA

A Hubble telescope image of Mars.

New mission to Mars launch for May 2018 : NASA

Washington: future exploration of Mars has a date, finally. InSight new NASA mission - set to study the deep interior of the red planet - is aimed at a new launch window beginning on May 5, 2018, with an expected landing for November 26 Exploration of the interior through research seismic, Geodesy and Heat Transport (Insight) mission will help scientists understand how rocky planets - including Earth - formed and evolved.

The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in his first instrument science prompted NASA in December to suspend the preparations. "The scientific objectives of InSight are convincing and NASA and the French Space Agency CNES (CNES) plans to overcome the technical challenges are solid," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Washington, DC.

"The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a long-standing goal of planetary scientists for decades. We are very happy to be back on track for a launch, now in 2018," he said in a statement.

Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA (JPL) in California are going to redesign, build and perform qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the seismic experiment to the inner structure (SEIS) - the component that failed in December.

CNES lead level integration tools and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of proven advantages of each organization. The seismometer instrument main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity for measuring movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom ground. The resumption of the empty container seismometer will result in a thoroughly tested in 2017 instrument to maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a primary mission of two years on the surface of Mars .

"The shared and renewed commitment to this mission commitment continues our collaboration to find clues in the heart of Mars on the early evolution of our solar system," said Marc Pircher, director of the Space Centre CNES Toulouse.

Robotic spacecraft are leading the way, with the next Mars rover 2020 being designed and built and opportunity and rovers Curiosity explore the surface of Mars.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Odyssey spacecraft currently in orbit around the planet, along with the atmosphere of Mars orbiter and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN).