NASA’s InSight Lander is scheduled to set down on the surface of Mars on Monday, November 26th. As a fixed station, InSight will drill a probe 5 meters down into the rock to both temperature profile that part of the rock column and to listen very carefully for seismic activity the lander can use to characterize the interior of the planet. The goal of this project is to learn more about the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets, including Mars, by learning about the physical composition and tectonic activity of the planet.

NASA celebrated the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station this week. It was Nov 20th 1998, when the first component was launched.

For the first time, astronomers have detected that a possible gamma ray bath could come from a supernova candidate in our galaxy. This particular star, named Apep after the monstrous serpent deity and mortal enemy of the Egyptian sun god Ra, isn’t the only star ready to blow.