NASA's InSight mission to Mars is expected to descend through the planet's thin atmosphere and land on the rocky surface at 3:00 PM EST.
InSight will study the interior of Mars, giving scientists a better understanding of how the interior planets, like Earth, were formed. Both Mars and our home planet formed from the same 4.5 billion-year-old primordial soup but clearly became quite different.
NASA hopes that by comparing the detail of one rocky planet, Earth, to new observations from Mars, we will gain a better understanding of our solar system. InSight could even "aid the search for Earth-like exoplanets, narrowing down which ones might be able to support life."
Watch the live Mars landing here:
(Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech)