After cruising through space for about seven months, the time has arrived for NASA’s Mars InSight mission to settle down on the Red Planet and get to work.
The culmination of this almost 90 million mile journey is expected Monday, Nov. 26, at about 12:00 p.m. Pacific.
To safely land, InSight has to slow down from its entry speed upon reaching the atmosphere, 12,300 miles per hour to just about 5 mph, within six minutes. (For a video explanation of InSight’s path to the ground, see below.)
To control its entry, small rockets will direct it toward the surface. Insight needs to enter the atmosphere at a precise 12-degree angle to avoid either burning up or bouncing off the planet’s surface.