NASA Plans Man Mission To Mars In 2018
Even though the first humans may not land on Mars before the 2030s, scientists are targeting to send the first "lander" on the Red Planet in 2018, so that they get a better idea of its atmosphere and physical characteristics.
"There are lot of things about Mars we do not know," said Larry James, deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We seek to know the interior of the plant, penetrate the ground for up to 10 meters or more, do a follow-up on the next rover in 2020 and check the samples on the surface."
Mars lures scientists as "it has more to offer, it is closer, more earth-like than the moon, has atmosphere to make oxygen and lots of potential," according to James.
"The current experiments are to check whether there was ever any life on Mars," he added. "After putting the man on Mars, humanity has to decide what to do next. It is going to be an international collaborative effort as individually we can't do it. We have about 10 projects."
Hence, you can expect a launch of the Interior Exploration using the Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander on May 5, 2018. Another landing on Mars will follow on Nov. 26, 2018.
The initial 2016 launch was spoilt by a vacuum leak in the main science instrument. It got repaired when the seismometer's vacuum container worked. But in spite of this drawback, NASA is planning to go ahead with its 2018 launch.
"The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We're excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018."
At present, NASA is undertaking joint projects with companies in Spain, Israel and India, so that it can create propulsion systems, spacecraft and radars, apart from other technologies.
