14 DAY TRIAL // Come September 2016, NASA will land another probe on Mars. Although there is plenty of time left until InSight finally reaches its target, astronomers know exactly where it will make touchdown once it gets to its destination.
Not to keep you in suspense any longer, Phys Org tells us that NASA astronomers hope that the InSight probe will manage to make a successful landing in a region known as Elysium Planitia.
This region straddles Mars' equator and investigations carried out over the years have revealed to be a broad plain. It is understood that the ground in this part of the Red Planet's surface is covered in ancient lava flows.
The reason Elysium Planitia was chosen as the perfect landing site for NASA's InSight probe was the lack of dust and the smoothness of the region.
“To land a probe safely on Mars, you need to come down in a flat, smooth place. Picking a safe place means the landing site can't be full of big rocks or covered in a thick layer of dust,” said scientist Jonathon Hill.
The InSight robotic lander is scheduled to launch in March 2016. This latest research mission will boil down to collecting information concerning the Red Planet's geological evolution.