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NASA going back to Mars to drill the red planet’s core for next planetary mission

For the past week, NASA has been trying to decide where it will focus its efforts, now that the Curiosity rover is rolling around, firing its laser at Martian rocks.

Well, it looks my 'vibes' got lost along the way, because they chose the InSight mission. InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. It launches in 2016, and will put a lander on the surface of Mars, to drill into its core looking for clues on how the planet was formed.

NASA chose to go for this mission because of the unique conditions on Mars.

Although tectonic activity may have been more active on Mars in the past, there is no plate tectonics there now. Therefore Mars' core, mantle and crust should have a more complete record of their formation, unlike Earth, where the record has been altered somewhat by shifting continents. This mission will give scientists a chance to study the process of terrestrial (rocky) planet formation, as well as meteor impacts and tectonics, from another perspective, and perhaps apply what they learn to better understand those processes here on Earth.

[ Related: 35-year-old Voyager 2 probe is NASA's longest mission ever ]

So, whereas I am disappointed that we'll have to wait awhile longer before we go boating on Titan, I'll just focus myself back onto Mars for now.

Speaking of which, Mars will still be visible in the evening sky up until the end of the year! Look to the southwest just after sunset, and find the constellation Virgo. You should see near the lower end of the constellation three "stars" that are brighter than the rest.

One is actually a star, called Spica, which will look slightly bluish. One is the planet Saturn, which you may see has a golden colour. The third, which will be noticeably orange/red, is Mars. They'll form the points of a triangle for the rest of this month.

You'll probably have to get away from any major cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to be able to see them, but I highly recommend it.