For the eighth time ever, humanity has achieved one of the toughest tasks in the solar system: landing a spacecraft on Mars. There it will operate for the next two Earth years, deploying a seismometer, a heat sensor and radio antenna to probe the Red Planet’s interior. Because it takes more than seven minutes for light signals to travel 100 million miles to Earth, scientists have no control over the process. The spacecraft plummeted to the planet’s surface at a pace of 12,300 miles per hour. Unlike Opportunity and Curiosity, the rovers that trundle across Mars in search of interesting rocks, InSight is designed to sit and listen.

Source: National Post November 26, 2018 21:33 UTC