Six Minutes of Terror →

Tomorrow’s a big day for space nerds. NASA will be landing its newest remote robotic outpost on Mars, as William Hardwood writes:

After a six-month voyage from Earth, NASA’s InSight Mars lander, streaking through space at at some 12,300 mph, will slam into the thin martian atmosphere Monday afternoon to begin a nail-biting six-and-a-half-minute descent to the surface, kicking off a billion-dollar mission to probe the red planet’s hidden interior.

If it makes it to the surface safely, InSight will help us understand the internal structure of Mars, giving us new … insight … into how our own world was formed.

Update: InSight is safe and sound on the Martian surface.