How to Look at Mars Insight Land Today
NASA is landing a spacecraft on Mars today, and you can actually watch it happen in real time.
NASA’s lander, Inner Mars Exploration Using Seismic Surveys, Geodesy, and Heat Transfer (yes, it’s a mouthful), is expected to land on Mars around 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT. NASA calls it InSight for short, and you should, too.
The first landing on Mars since 2012 (when NASA landed the Curiosity rover on the planet), this landing will kick off the two-year Insight mission, the main goal of which is to explore the interior of Mars. It is hoped that by studying the planet, scientists will be able to learn more about how all rocky worlds were formed, including our own.
If you want to land in person (and you do), you can watch this event online on NASA TV. The broadcast will run from 2-3:30 ET / 11 to 12:30 PST. You can find this live stream here .
If you’d rather experience the event with other space buffs, there are also plenty of parties to watch in the United States as well as several international locations where you can catch the action with others.
Note the following options: Times Square (on the NASDAQ screen), the Smithsonian Institution, and the Los Angeles Central Library.
You can check out the full list of party viewing options here .