Want to watch a live-stream from Mars? Here’s where to watch

On Monday, for the first time in six years, a NASA robot will land on Mars.

InSight — the shorthand name given to the solar-powered, digging spacecraft “Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport,” launched on May 5 — will be the first mission to land on Mars since the rover Curiosity in 2011.

Unlike Curiosity, InSight will not explore the surface of Mars. Instead, the burrowing spacecraft will spend two years probing the core of the fourth planet, investigating geophysical questions about its history — and, if all goes according to plan, the mission will help scientists better understand Earth’s deep history.

According to NASA, Earth and Mars are like two siblings that have grown apart. At one time, the two planets were nearly identical — warm and humid with thick atmospheres — but 3 to 4 billion years ago, the two siblings took “different paths.”

Why does Earth have a magnetic field, while Mars’ vanished? What’s at Mars’ core? Those are two of the questions scientists hope to answer through InSight.

InSight, though not specifically looking for life on Mars, will study its insides to help scientists better understand why Earth is full of life and Mars is seemingly desolate.

One of the key questions presented to NASA scientists is whether Mars’ lack of tectonic plates, which churn water, carbon dioxide and methane out of Earth’s core, has kept life from forming on the planet.

But first, it has to stick its landing.

Flying through Mars’ atmosphere faster than a speeding bullet (12,300 mph), InSight is programmed to slow itself down in six-and-a-half minutes and land gently on the surface of the planet. A pair of briefcase-sized satellites — WALL-E and EVE — will trail the spacecraft as it makes the plunge, broadcasting its status back to Earth.

If all goes well, WALL-E and EVE will send radio signals more than 100 million miles within minutes to controllers on Earth, alerting them to a successful landing.

Around 2 p.m. on Monday, a “Beep” from InSight’s X-band radio will confirm to Earthlings whether the spacecraft survived its landing intact.

There’s only one place members of the public can watch the landing in person with expert commentary in Kansas, and it’s free. From noon to 2 p.m. on Monday at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, 1100 N. Plum St., NASA engineer Michael Staab will offer live commentary as live images come in from the mission and talk about the science behind the landing.

The public can also view a live-stream of the landing through NASA’s website.

This story was originally published November 23, 2018 at 1:00 PM.