NASA selected the Elysium Planitia region of the Red Planet as the landing site for its InSight lander –an 81-mile long, 17-mile-wide (130-kilometer-long, 27-kilometer-wide) landing ellipse on the western edge of a flat, smooth expanse of lava plain. The site-selection team focused on a band around the equator, where the lander’s solar array would have adequate sunlight to power its systems year-round and be safe enough for InSight to land and then deploy its solar panels and instruments without obstructions.
The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you daily news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.
The Milky Way Is Like an Ecosystem: The Center Is Where the Action Is
Did the Big Bang Make Cracks in Spacetime to What Would Intelligent Aliens Mean? (The Galaxy Report)
How Earth Avoided a Mars-like Fate to Why is There No Planet B? (Planet Earth Report)
“Life is Electric” –NASA’s ENIGMA Explores Origins of Life on Earth & Beyond
