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InSight
Landing on Mars

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Rob Manning: Although
we've done it before,

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landing on Mars
is hard.

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And this mission
is no different.

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The process to get from the
top of the atmosphere of Mars

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to the surface we call "entry,
descent, and landing" or EDL.

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It takes thousands of steps

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to go from the top of the
atmosphere to the surface.

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And each one of them
has to work perfectly

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to be a successful mission.

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The process starts well above
the atmosphere of Mars.

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The cruise stage faces the Sun.

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It also has its radio antenna
which faces Earth.

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But now we don't need
the cruise stage.

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Its job is done.

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The next step, just
7 minutes before

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arriving to the top of
the Mars atmosphere,

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is to separate the
cruise stage.

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Before you hit the top of
the atmosphere though,

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the space capsule has
to orient itself

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so that the heat shield

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is precisely facing
the atmosphere.

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Now the fun begins.

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The vehicle is moving at nearly
13,000 miles an hour.

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But it's hitting the
top of the atmosphere

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at a very shallow angle.

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12 degrees.

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Any steeper, the vehicle
will hit the thicker part

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of the atmosphere and
will melt and burn up.

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Any shallower, the vehicle
will bounce off

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the atmosphere of Mars.

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At the very top
of the atmosphere

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it's about 70 miles above
the surface of Mars.

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And the air is starting to get
thicker and thicker and thicker.

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As it does that, the temperature
in the heat shield

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gets well over a thousand
degrees centigrade--

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enough to melt steel.

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Over the next 2 minutes,
the vehicle decelerates

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at a back-breaking 12 Earth G's.

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From 13,000 miles an hour to
about 1,000 miles an hour.

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At about 10 miles above
the surface of Mars

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a supersonic parachute
is launched

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out of the back of the vehicle.

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Fifteen seconds after the
parachute inflates

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it's time to get rid
of the heat shield.

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Six pyrotechnic devices
fire simultaneously

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allowing the heat shield to fall

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and tumble away
from the vehicle,

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exposing the lander to
the surface of Mars.

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Ten seconds after the heat
shield is dropped,

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three pyrotechnically
deployed legs

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are released and
locked for landing.

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About a minute later the
landing radar is turned on,

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sending pulses toward
the surface of Mars

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as the vehicle starts
to try to measure

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how high it is
above the surface

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and how fast it's going.

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At about a mile above
the surface of Mars

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the lander falls away
from the backshell

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and lights its engines.

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And very quickly the vehicle
must rotate out of the way

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so that the parachute
and the backshell

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doesn't come down to hit it.

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The last thing
that has to happen

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is that on the moment of contact

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the engines have to
shut down immediately.

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If they don't, the
vehicle will tip over.

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So if all the steps

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of entry, descent, and landing

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happen perfectly

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and we are safely on
the surface of Mars,

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we'll be ready to do some
exciting new science.

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InSight mission landing
November 26, 2018

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory