NASA’s first mission to study ‘heart’ of Mars

Los Angeles : NASA's first-ever mission to study the deep interior of Mars is on schedule to launch this week, the US space agency said.The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) is the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast of US. Most of US' interplanetary missions take off from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, located on the East Coast of the country.

Launching on the same rocket is a separate NASA technology experiment known as Mars Cube One (MarCO). MarCO consists of two mini-spacecraft and will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They are designed to test new communications and navigation capabilities for future missions and may aid InSight communications. 

InSight is targeted to launch on May 5 at 7:05 am EDT (4:35 pm, Indian Standard Time) from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The lander will study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all rocky planets formed, including Earth and its Moon.

 Its instruments include a seismometer to detect marsquakes and a probe that will monitor the flow of heat in the planet's subsurface. The United Launch Alliance two-stage Atlas V 401 launch vehicle will produce 3.8 million Newton of thrust as it climbs away from its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base. During the first 17 seconds of powered flight, the Atlas V will climb vertically above its launch pad. Then it will begin a manoeuvre that will place it on a trajectory towards Earth's south pole.