November 26 2018

Something special is going to happen today that stretches beyond Cyber Monday and planet Earth. I wanted to share the NASA mission to Mars: landing of the rover InSight. This is expected to go through a tremendous transition from space travel to landing on our sister planet this afternoon. The landing is expected to take place close to  3PM EST. A live video stream is below. But first, here is a little background.

InSight

• Cost: $1 Billion
• Launched: May 25, 2018
• Travel to Mars:
• Time = 6.5 months
• Travel Distance: 300 million miles
• Distance from Earth = 91 million miles
• Top Speed: 12,300 mph
• Slowing to 5 mph for landing
• Landing Time: 6 minutes

7 Minutes of Terror

• Due to the interference from the heat shields as the craft falls through the Martian atmosphere, there wil be information black out for 7 minutes. 
• The distance takes information about 8 minutes to reach Earth.
• When Mission Control finds out if this was a success, it will be 15 minutes after it initially went into the landing.

 

Mission:

To study the interior of the planet. Determine the composition below the surface to the core.

InSight stands for: Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport

 

Mission Video

 

Mars Success:

• 40% of missions have safely landed since 1960
• USA has 7 successful Mars landings in the last 40 years 

 

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LIVE Video Stream from NASA Mission Control

Two Options To View Here: Just in case there is a traffic overload:

JPL Mission Control

 

 

 

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