![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2018\/11\/mars-insight-lander-nasa-landed-300x157.jpg\")
<\/div>Mission Accomplished<\/h2>
It took six and a half long months of space travel to reach the Martian surface, but NASA’s InSight Mars Lander<\/a> has finally made it.<\/p> The robotic lander had to cover some 300 million miles (483 million km) to get there after it was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5.<\/p> We don’t have to tell you that landing on the Red Planet is not an easy feat: in fact, as Space.com<\/em> points out, half of all Mars missions have failed to arrive<\/a> safely in the past.<\/p> It’s a treacherous landing. InSight reached a breakneck speed<\/a> of 12,000 miles per hour before slowing to just five miles per hour as it touched down with the help of a supersonic parachute and an array of small thrusters.<\/p> Destination: the Elysium Planitia plain — a large, mostly flat surface that straddles the equator, close to some of the largest volcanic regions on Mars.<\/p> The InSight team is planning to glean data about Mars’ ancient history. To do so, it’s outfitted with:<\/p> There’s still one more big hurdle to overcome: the lander has yet to unfurl its solar panel array to power the instruments<\/a> on board. We’re expecting to know if the lander did so successfully in a few hours.<\/p> Then we’ll have to wait until InSight actually deploys all its instruments — and finally starts sending some long-awaited data back to Earth.<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> NASA’s InSight Mars Lander Reaches Mars Today! Here’s What to Expect<\/a> [Space.com]<\/p> More on the InSight lander:<\/strong> NASA’s InSight Mars Lander to Investigate Inside the Red Planet<\/a><\/p> The post Breaking: NASA’s InSight Lander Just Landed on Mars<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> See more here: Mission Accomplished It took six and a half long months of space travel to reach the Martian surface, but NASA\u2019s InSight Mars Lander has finally made it. Continue reading A Treacherous Journey<\/h2>
Pulse of the Planet<\/h2>
And Now We Wait<\/h2>
Breaking: NASA’s InSight Lander Just Landed on Mars<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"