Buzz
The InSight Lander is scheduled to land on Mars today, November 26, marking the end of its seven-month journey from Earth. For those eager to witness the moment, NASA will be streaming the event live on its website between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. ET, according to Live Science reports.
InSight, which stands for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport," was launched atop an Atlas V rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on May 5, making it NASA's first interplanetary mission to depart from anywhere other than Florida's Space Coast.
After traveling 91 million miles through space, the InSight Lander is ready to land on Mars' Elysium Planitia. While the area may lack the dramatic mountains and canyons that Mars is known for, it provides the perfect environment for InSight's mission. Equipped with a heat probe and seismometers, the lander will explore the planet's interior for the next two years, offering NASA scientists an unprecedented view of Mars' geological history.
Before InSight can begin its mission of gathering data, it must first land on Mars. The lander will enter the Martian atmosphere and parachute down to the surface, a process that will take around six minutes, happening between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. ET today. You can watch the landing live on NASA TV or stream it on Space.com.
The video feed may not be the sharpest, so NASA will rely on a radio signal from the spacecraft to confirm the success of the landing. Once it safely reaches the surface of Mars, InSight will begin mapping the planet's interior over the following months.
