After seven months in deep space, NASA's InSight spacecraft is finally ready to touch down on Mars.
InSight is a special vehicle that's designed to discover important information about the red planet's interior, Space reports. It comes equipped with a probe that will drill down below Mars' surface, deeper into its crust than we've ever gone before. Over the next two years, the data that InSight gathers is expected to give researchers some insight into how big Mars' core is, and what it's made of.
But before any of that work gets started, InSight will have to survive a "harrowing descent to the ground," The Verge reported. Since more than half of our Mars missions have failed to reach the red planet safely, this isn't a guarantee — which will make it all the more nerve-wracking and exciting to watch.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
NASA will be streaming the signals it receives from InSight starting at 2 p.m. EST. Find more details at Space, and watch the livestream below. Shivani Ishwar
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.