'Seven minutes of terror' as Nasa's InSight probe descends to Mars
by Ian Sample Science editor from on (#43Q7B)
Lander is on a mission to map the planet's interior, but first it has to get there intact
After a seven-month journey, Nasa's InSight probe is about to reach Mars and - if touchdown goes to plan - embark on an unprecedented mission to map the planet's interior.
The lander will aim for one of the dullest parts of the planet's dusty surface, Elysium Planitia, a vast lava plain that the US space agency calls "the biggest parking lot on Mars". The flat, rockless expanse was deemed the perfect place for InSight to record tremors unleashed by "Marsquakes" and to measure heat flow in the planet's upper layers.
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