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          NASA Salvages Mars Mission That Should Have Launched By Now

   by Associated Press

   NASA's next Mars mission is still alive.
   The space agency said Wednesday it's shooting for a 2018 launch of the
   Mars Insight spacecraft. The robotic lander was supposed to lift off
   this month, but was grounded in December by a leak in a French
   instrument. Managers say the instrument should be redesigned in time.
   May 2018 represents the next available launch window. Mars windows
   arise just every two years.
   InSight aims to study the interior of Mars. The sensors for the French
   seismometer need to operate in a vacuum chamber in order to measure
   subtle ground movements. The vacuum chamber was leaking.
   It's unknown how much the two-year delay will cost. NASA's only other
   option was to kill the project.
   Europe is launching its own Mars-landing mission Monday from
   Kazakhstan.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-salvages-mars-mission-that-shoul
   d-have-launched-by-now/3227502.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-salvages-mars-mission-that-should-have-launched-by-now/3227502.html