NASA’S ‘THREE-LEGGED GEOLOGIST’ SET TO VISIT MARS

Mars is about to get its first U.S. visitor in years: a three-legged, one-armed geologist to dig deep and listen for quakes. NASA’s InSight will break through the rose-tinted Martian skies on Monday, after a six-month, 480 million-kilometre journey.

It will be the first U.S. spacecraft to land since the Curiosity rover in 2012 and the first dedicated to exploring underground. NASA is going with a tried-and-true method to get this mechanical miner to the surface. Engine firings will slow its descent and the spacecraft will plop down on its rigid legs. Then InSight’s 1.8-meter arm will remove the two main science experiments from the lander’s deck and place them directly on the Martian surface.