NASA's newest Mars mission lands on Monday — here are 13 incredible facts you should know about the red planet

NASA's InSight Mars lander will try to land around 3 p.m. ET on Monday, November 26.
The robotic probe could be the first Mars mission to measure the "vital signs" of the world and decode its internal structure.
From skyscraper-size tsunamis to eerie blue sunsets, here are some surprising facts you may not know about the red planet.

NASA is about to land InSight: a new $830-million Mars lander that will probe the red planet's secrets like never before.

InSight lifted off in May and is expected to land on Monday, but it's just one of dozens of robotic and satellite missions that humanity has rocketed to Mars over the decades.

These spacecraft have beamed back dazzling photos, inspired sci-fi movies like "The Martian", and even helped give Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, the idea to colonize the red planet with the Big Falcon Rocket.

While scientists readily admit they have much to learn about Mars, including the planet's internal structure (a mystery InSight will try to solve), what we have found out so far is incredible.

Here are 13 fascinating facts about Mars and our robotic exploration of the red planet.

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Volcanoes

Olympus Mons is more than twice as high as Hawaii's Mauna Loa, the tallest mountain on Earth from top to bottom.

Canyons

Compared to the Grand Canyon on Earth, Valles Marineris on Mars is nearly five times deeper, about four times longer, and 20 times wider.

Mars quakes

The red planet doesn't have plate tectonics, which is what causes most quakes on Earth. But rising plumes of magma could trigger Mars quakes, as could meteorite impacts and the contraction of the world due to cooling. InSight will listen for them with its seismometer.

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