InSight will land on Elysium Planitia lava flows

PIA19143_ip

This map [made using THEMIS daytime infrared images] shows the single area under continuing evaluation as the InSight mission’s Mars landing site, as of a year before the mission’s May 2016 launch. The finalist ellipse marked within the northern portion of flat-lying Elysium Planitia is centered at about 4.5 degrees north latitude and 136 degrees east longitude.

InSight — an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. The mission’s launch period begins March 4, 2016, and lasts until late March. Whichever day during that period the launch occurs, landing is scheduled for Sept. 28, 2016… [More at link above and here]

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