51 – Entry, Descent, and Landing

Play Episode (35:53)

On November 26th, 2018, NASA successfully landed the InSight spacecraft on the surface of Mars. It was their 8th successful landing, went picture-perfect, and seemed to defy the common thought that Mars landings rarely work. Jake recounts the landing, provides historical context to the events, and asks the question of whether NASA’s entries, descents, and landings are as failure-prone as some make it out to be.

We Talk InSight and Entry, Descent, and Landing

• Viking Press Kit
• Mars Pathfinder Press Kit
• Mars Polar Lander Press Kit
• Mars Exploration Rovers Press Kit
• Mars Phoenix Press Kit
• Mars Science Laboratory Press Kit
• InSight Press Kit
• InSight L-1 Briefing
• Paper on Drag-assisted entry at Mars
• Summary of Mars EDLs

Previous Coverage of InSight

• Episode 36: Systems Engineering InSight (feat. Farah Alibay)
• Episode 41: Thirty Years to the Centre of Mars (feat. Bruce Banerdt, Philippe Lognonné, and Tim Linn)
• Episode 50: The Journey to Mars is Hyperbolic (feat. Mark Wallace)

Follow Jake & WeMartians

• Website (www.wemartians.com)
• Patreon (www.patreon.com/wemartians)
  • The WeMartians Travel Grant
• WeMartians Shop (shop.wemartians.com)
  • Check out all the new merchandise out in time for the holidays!
• Twitter (@we_martians) 
• Jake’s Twitter (@JakeOnOrbit)

New Merchandise!

We’ve got a whole bunch of new merchandise in our shop! Check out the new designs, including Off-Nominal gear!

Our Sponsor

WeMartians is sponsored by MOVA Globes. Visit the site and use the code WEMARTIANS for 10% off your order of one of these really great looking pieces shipping to the Americas. They rotate without cords or batteries! Patrons, check your Patreon account for a special Patron-only discount code. Thanks to MOVA Globes for helping us explore Mars together.

Check out this antique celestial globe! It’s a reprint of Globo Celeste, by Giovanni Cassini in 1792 (no, not that Giovanni Cassini).

WeMartians music is “RetroFuture”, “Electrodoodle”, and “On My Way” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/