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.
Reportedly, Space X founder Elon Musk has asked NASA to provide possible landing sites for its towering, two-stage rocket system called Starship for mid-2020 missions that will land people and cargo on Mars. Collaborating with a NASA scientist, the rocket company requested photos of at least nine landing sites for Starships that offer relatively flat, warm and hazard-free sites for the upcoming fleet of Martian launch vehicles.
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.
Gaia Mission Unlocking Secrets of the Milky Way to New Mystery on the Moon (The Galaxy Report)
The Curious Case of Titan’s Missing CloudsMystery of Gravity Could Soon Be Solved to Will Mars Samples Endanger Earth? (The Galaxy Report)
“Information Can Escape a Black Hole Both On the Outside and Possibly to Another Universe” (Stephen Hawking’s Paradox)
The Fourth Copernican Revolution: “Our Universe May Be One Patch of Space and Time In a Infinite Archipelago” (Weekend Feature)
Human Imprint on Earth’s Rocks to Our Inner Fish (Planet Earth Report)What the First Two Pictures of Black Holes Tell Us to What If Aliens We are Looking for are AI? (The Galaxy Report)
The Most Massive Objects in the Modern Universe –Primordial Relics of the Cosmic Microwave Background
Antarctica’s ‘Factorian Deep’ to Can We Think Without Language? (Planet Earth Report)
Mystery of Our Lopsided Universe to China’s Alien-Signal False Alarm (The Galaxy Report)
