VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- In its first mission to the Mars in six years, NASA is just hours away from attempting to launch a robot to the Red Planet.
- Mars InSight mission will probe makeup of Red Planet
- It's NASA's 1st mission to Mars in 6 years
- Launch is 1st interplanetary mission not from Cape Canaveral
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The Mars InSight spacecraft will take a deeper look than ever before into the rocky planet to study its makeup and how it differs from Earth. Scientists hope to learn more about how it -- and our own planet -- formed 4.5 billion years ago.
The $1 billion InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is set to land on Mars in several months. Accompanying it are two mini-satellites dubbed WALL-E and EVE, named after the animated movie characters (they use the same type of propulsion used in fire extinguishers to shoot foam -- in the movie, WALL-E used a fire extinguisher to propel himself through space).
United Launch Alliance will send the probe on its way aboard an Atlas V rocket Saturday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will be NASA's first interplanetary mission launched from somewhere other than Cape Canaveral.
According to the Associated Press, the success rate for spacecraft getting to Mars is only about 40 percent. The U.S. is the only country to have successfully landed and operated spacecraft on Mars, including the first time in 1976 (Vikings) and most recently in 2012 with the Curiosity rover.
The Vandenberg launch window will open at 7:05 a.m. EDT Saturday, though 30th Space Wing forecasters say there's only a 20 percent chance of favorable weather as of Friday afternoon, with marine fog expected to roll in.
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Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.