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<\/p>\nNASA\u2019s InSight lander has performed a perfect and critical entry and descent through the Martian atmosphere to gently touchdown on Mars\u2019 Elysium Planitia. The landing came after a flawless six and a half month cruise through the interplanetary space between Earth and Mars and was humanity\u2019s first successful landing on Mars in over six years following 2012\u2019s August landing of NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover at Gale Crater. <\/p>\n
Confirmation of landing came through the Deep Space Network at 15:01 EST (2001 UTC) on Monday, 26 November following the 7 minute descent and landing of InSight on the Martian surface \u2013 during which the science platform slowed itself from 12,300 mph (19,800 kph) to just 5 mph (8 kph).<\/p>\n
The Martian Challenge:<\/b><\/p>\n
From the 1600s to the 1960s, all the information humanity had on Mars came solely from ground-based telescopes \u2013 a feat in itself. But with the dawn of rocketry came a new means of exploring the tantalizing Red Planet that had for so long captured our imaginations and fancy.<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of the space age, the exploration of Mars figured prominently in the space programs of the United States and Russia (formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) \u2013 expanding in the 1990s to include Japan, in the 2000s to include the European Space Agency (ESA), and in the 2010s to include India and China.<\/p>\n
On 10 October 1960, Earth\u2019s first space probe to Mars was launched by the USSR. Named Mars 1M No.1, the mission ended shortly after liftoff in a launch failure. And with that failure, the reality of up-close exploration of Mars was realized.<\/p>\n
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Mars \u2013 a planet that has captured our imagination but has historically proven difficult to reach. (Credit: NASA)<\/p>\n
Mars was never going to be easy, and it was going to challenge us in ways we didn\u2019t expect. Since 10 October 1960, 56 missions (some bundled together resulting in two missions launching together) to Mars \u2013 be they flybys, orbiters, landers, rovers, and\/or sample returns \u2013 have been launched by NASA, Russia\/USSR, Japan, ESA, China, and India.<\/p>\n
Of those 56 missions, 56 to date, including InSight and the Mars Cube One flights, have attempted to successfully arrive at Mars and either flyby, insert themselves into orbit, or land on the surface.<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Of those 56 attempts, the results stand as thus:<\/p>\n Successes Partial Successes Failures This gives an overall global average for Mars mission success of 48% if only complete successes are taken. To say the least, the figures tell a clear story of how difficult in-situ exploration of Mars is, and the figures for landers and rovers are even more daunting. <\/p>\n In all, 19 lander\/rover missions have been attempted to Mars, including InSight. Of those, 8 have ended in failures, 3 in partial successes, and only 8 in successes \u2013 a 42% success rate.<\/p>\n Despite that failure (and a few others), NASA\u2019s overall Martian success rate is an impressive 80%, with accomplishments including: <\/p>\n InSight\u2019s landing \u2013 preparing for all possibilities years ahead of time:<\/b><\/p>\n InSight was the 19th lander to attempt a touchdown on the Martian surface.<\/p>\n Slamming into Mars\u2019 atmosphere at 12,300 mph (5.5. km\/second), the 1,340 lb (608 kg) craft used a combination of hypersonic aerobraking with its heat shield, a hypersonic parachute, and 12 retro-rocket descent thrusters to slow itself to just 5 mph (8 kph) in 7 minutes for landing on the western Elysium Planitia.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Despite those daunting global odds, NASA has a nearly unbelievable success rate with Mars lander\/rover missions. Including InSight, NASA has sent 11 landers\/rovers to Mars with an 82% success rate. Only the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 hard landers (two components of the same mission) crash-landed on the Red Planet in 1999 due to improper hardware testing.<\/p>\n\n