Shame they do not have the money to place several widely spaced seismometers for better mapping of Mar's interior. Still, I am excited!
Was this seen as the safest choice? I was more excited about TiME tbh.
I thought there wasn't enough money for another lander for a 2016/2018 launch?
Does anyone know, which launcher is baselined for this mission?
Any hint about the landing site?
We've got InSight coverage in three threads:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27717.0http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29739.0http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28268.0
A UK Space Agency-funded instrument, designed to investigate the interior structure and processes of Mars, has been selected to travel to the Red Planet on NASA’s newly announced InSight mission.
The UK-funded SEIS-SP is a Seismometer that will listen for "marsquakes" and use this information to map the boundaries between the rock layers inside Earth's neighbour. This will help determine if the planet has a liquid or solid core, and provide some clues as to why its surface is not divided up into tectonic plates as on Earth. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve. The SEIS-SP will be provided by space scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Oxford.
Rep. Schiff Hails Announcement of New Mission to MarsPasadena, CA -- [snip]..Schiff said. “Also, by announcing this new mission soon after the landing of Curiosity, NASA will help to preserve the entry, descent and landing capabilities that were so spectacularly demonstrated by the scientists at JPL, whose talents will be crucial to future planetary exploration.”
1-Is this correct, enthusiatic loose interpretation, or just more blather?2-It could be hoped that JPL is held to the cost cap, but I doubt it. We could start a poll on our guesses for the final cost, $400-450M, $450-500M, up to >$1G.