NASA Mars mission gets perfect explainer from The Oatmeal
Matthew Inman draws a comic with everything you need to know about NASA's InSight lander.
The latest human-made visitor to Mars should arrive at its destination on Monday when NASA's InSight lander is set to touch down.
Perhaps the best and quickest way to get up to speed on the Insight mission is to read artist Matthew Inman's delightful new Oatmeal comic explaining the lander's task.
5 days until we touchdown on Mars. Here's everything you need to know about the landing: https://t.co/s9D2oX5NlO pic.twitter.com/l9ByXguBad
— Matthew Inman (@Oatmeal) November 21, 2018
InSight is very different from NASA's famous Mars rovers, Curiosity and Opportunity. The lander will be staying in one place and, if all goes well, deploying a robotic "mole" deep into the ground to take the planet's temperature.
The Oatmeal comic covers a lot of ground, from the mole to the "seven minutes of terror," a description of the process of entry, descent and landing. This is a hairy time, when NASA waits for word from InSight on whether the arrival was successful.
Inman will be at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, during InSight's landing. You can follow his live tweets during the process. He recommends tuning in starting at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, an hour ahead of the scheduled touch down.
