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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

NASA's InSight [wikipedia.org] (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Mars mission has been rescheduled [nasa.gov] for May 2018. The mission was planned for launch in March 2016, but was delayed after a leak was found [soylentnews.org] in the vacuum enclosure of a French-made seismometer. Repairs to the instrument will cost the French manufacturers $150 million [theregister.co.uk].

The lander will drill up to 5 meters into Mars's crust and measure temperature as well as seismic activity:

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars.

$525 million of the mission's capped $675 million budget had been spent by December 2015, and a reassessment of the mission's cost taking into account the two-year delay will occur by August once arrangements are made with the launch vehicle provider.

Also at NPR [npr.org], NYT [nytimes.com], Reuters [reuters.com], NASASpaceflight [nasaspaceflight.com].

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