NASA to launch its Insight for Mars interior exploration

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NASA is ready for the launch of its Mars lander on Saturday, designed to perch on the surface of the Red Planet and listen for "the inner space".

The Insight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is scheduled to blast off atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 a.m. Pacific time (1105 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas-V rocket is seen with NASA's InSight spacecraft on board. /VCG Photo‍

The 993 million US dollars project aims to expand human knowledge of conditions on Mars, inform efforts to send human explorers there, and reveal how rocky planets like the Earth formed billions of years ago.

The lander is expected to arrive at its destination after a six-month cruise. The solar and battery-powered lander, based on the design of NASA’s successful Phoenix lander is designed to operate for 26 Earth months, or one year on Mars, a period in which it is expected to pick up as many as 100 quakes.

"The goal of InSight is nothing less than to better understand the birth of the Earth, the birth of the planet we live on, and we're going to do that by going to Mars," said Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator of Mars Insight mission.

An artist's concept shows the InSight lander, its sensors, cameras and instruments. /VCG Photo

The spacecraft was initially supposed to launch in 2016 but had to be delayed after temperature tests showed a problem with part of the seismometer, which engineers have since fixed.

InSight aims to be the first NASA spacecraft to land on Mars since the Curiosity rover in 2012.

"There is nothing routine about going to Mars, especially landing on Mars," said Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space.

CGTN will be broadcasting the launch live. Click here to watch.