A ULA Atlas V rocket is ready for launch this Saturday morning to send the Insight Lander to Mars, where it will use a seismograph and other instruments to study the interior of the Red Planet. Liftoff is set for 7:05 am EDT (4:05 am PDT, 1105 GMT). NASA TV coverage of the launch from Vandenberg AFB in California will start at 6:30 am EDT. On Thursday at 4:00 pm EDT, NASA TV will broadcast a pre-launch briefing about the mission.

InSight will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes, which are seismic events similar to earthquakes on Earth. It will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will help us better understand how other rocky planets, including Earth, were and are created.

JPL manages the InSight mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver.

Several European partners, including France’s space agency, the Centre National d’Étude Spatiales, and Germany’s DLR, are supporting the mission.

Here is an overview of the mission from NASA:

Lockheed-Martin was the lead contractor building the spacecraft:

Here is a science briefing on the mission held back in March:

The Planetary Society‘s “Planetary Post with Robert Picardo” reports from the spacecraft clean room:

More about the mission:

• NASA Sets Sights on May 5 Launch of InSight to Mars – NASA JPL
• Managers clear InSight for launch after heat shield review – Spaceflight Now
• Deep InSight: NASA’s Next Mars Lander Will Probe Red Planet’s Interior – Space.com

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