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Nasa's Mars InSight mission heads for '7 minutes of terror'

JacksinPA

JacksinPA

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https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46333459

The American space agency Nasa will attempt to put another robotic probe on Mars later.

The InSight lander is being targeted at a flat plain just north of the planet's equator called Elysium Planitia.

It carries a suite of instruments - many of them from Europe - to try to determine the rocky world's internal structure.

Signals from the probe confirming its safe touchdown should be received at 19:53 GMT, give or take a minute.

As with previous surface missions, InSight must survive the "seven minutes of terror" - the time it takes for a probe entering Mars' thin atmosphere at hypersonic speed to slow to walking pace and gently put itself on the ground.
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NASA's science chief: 'Going to Mars is really hard.'
 
Is NASA going to stick the landing?

What do we think?
 
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/world/nasa-insight-mars-landing-today/index.html

NASA's InSight lander will touch down on Mars today

NASA's InSight lander will touch down on Mars today

(CNN)After seven months of traveling through space, the NASA InSight lander will land on Mars and begin its permanent residence on Monday. The spacecraft is expected to land at 3 pm EST.

InSight, or Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is going to explore a part of Mars that we know the least about: its deep interior. It launched May 5.

InSight will spend two years investigating the interior where the building blocks below the planet's surface that recorded its history.
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Neat stuff. Mars is probably the most attractive planet in terms of exploration & future development.
 
Still no word that the lander has successfully launched its power source (solar), it only has 16 hours of battery, and we are mostly unwilling to use the superior power source...nuclear.

Nail biting time!
 
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