Don&rsquot miss a chance to witness history in the making. NASA&rsquos InSight spacecraft is scheduled to touch down on the red planet at 130 AM IST. And you can get a first-hand glimpse of this historic moment at Times Square in New York where it will be broadcast for all to see.
Movie buffs may have seen the allure Times Square in celluloid, whether in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Kal Ho Na Ho or at Breakfast at Tiffany's, You Got Mail or even King Kong. Well tonight, the same bustling location will forever have its name deeply carved into history. The footage of the landing will be displayed on the seven-storey curved screen on the Nasdaq Tower.
InSight carries a host of instruments which will be used to determine the internal structure of the fourth planet of our solar system. More importantly, InSight must survive the "seven minutes of terror", like the previous surface missions to Mars. The event refers to the time it takes for a spacecraft to enter Mars' thin atmosphere at hypersonic speed and then to slow down to a walking pace before gently putting itself on the ground.
The InSight mission which was launched on May 5 will be the first NASA spacecraft to land on the Red Planet since Curiosity in 2012. The NASA spacecraft is targeted to land at a flat plain just north of the planet's equator called Elysium Planitia. Mars, which is about half the size of Earth, has been on the radar of numerous scientists around the globe who believe that the planet could be home to life forms and water.
So, if you are in New York, do not miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
