Aliens are about to invade a planet in our very own Solar System.
The planet? Mars.
The aliens? Humans!
NASA's latest venture into Martian territory will come by way of "InSight," the new "lander of landers."
So, just what is the hubbub, bub?
Planetary physicist Gerald Shubert recently sat down with the LA Times to fill in some details:
"Even though we've had a lot of missions to Mars — orbiters and also landers and rovers crawling around on the surface — we've never had a mission that was devoted to looking inside Mars..."
And there is precisely the core of the issue: Mars' core!
Scientists theorize that Mars was once very Earth-like: complete with water, clouds and an atmosphere.
We've already tracked down evidence of lakes, rivers, and volcanoes. Using seismic technology on Mars, NASA will be able to glean more information on what caused the natural occurrences, and perhaps what caused their demise.
Might Earth have a shared fate? We could soon find out.
It's a project literally decades in the making, and it's coming to a head with the lander's official launch out of California's own Vandenberg Air Base.
The trip will take about 6 months, with an estimated arrival date of November 26.
InSight even (I mean, of course) has its own Twitter account @NASAInSight. Give it a follow for all the latest updates on the mission.
For now, you can get information on Saturday's launch's viewing times from the lander itself:
So cute!!
Hey bubs! Dr. Ingrid Dauber of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) joined Conway and crew to talk a bit about her involvement in the truly inspirational InSight project.
Listen in the iHeartRADIO player below!