While headlines routinely report on “close shaves” and “near-misses” when near-Earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids or comets pass relatively close to Earth, the real work of preparing for the possibility of a NEO impact with Earth goes on mostly out of the public eye. For more than 20 years, NASA and its international partners…
NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface to Learn What Lies Beneath
Mars has just received its newest robotic resident. NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the Red Planet after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458-million-kilometer) journey from Earth. InSight’s two-year mission will be to study the deep interior of Mars to learn how all celestial bodies with…