After seven months of traveling in space, NASA’s InSight probe has successfully landed on Mars. InSight is set to go further into the interior of Mars than any other spacecraft in history.
I feel you, #Mars – and soon I’ll know your heart. With this safe landing, I’m here. I’m home.
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) November 26, 2018
#MarsLanding https://t.co/auhFdfiUMg
Unlike the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012, InSight is a probe focused on the interior of the planet. (InSight is an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.) The probe is being celebrated online by the science community as a revolutionary breakthrough in space travel and Mars exploration.
InSight sends a photo from its new home. pic.twitter.com/V6AlxLS8Ip
— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) November 26, 2018
Nov 26, 2011 🚀 I launched
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) November 25, 2018
Nov 26, 2018 🔴 InSight lands
I couldn’t ask for a better sol mate, @NASAInSight! Looking forward to your #MarsLanding and all the discovery yet to come. https://t.co/yMT4pfgvWO pic.twitter.com/ixANAEqQMp
The landing of InSight is an important historical moment for many reasons—like this impressive celebratory handshake in NASA’s control room.
Historians will remember this handshake for decades to come #MarsLanding pic.twitter.com/smd372FBmu
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 26, 2018
InSight’s landing marks a promising future for further American exploration of space. This, of course, prompted some cynical commentary.
How exciting it must be for you to see surface photos of a planet you haven’t screwed up. #MarsLanding
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) November 26, 2018
Hell yeah touchdown! #MarsLanding first pics are coming in!!! pic.twitter.com/AIiopPiU36
— Xenosystems 🐧 (@Xenosystems) November 26, 2018
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he didn’t believe a recent U.S. climate report warning that the Earth is deteriorating rapidly and might result in the death of thousands. Several people drew comparisons between Trump’s comments about Earth and the recent accomplishment on Mars.
https://twitter.com/adamajacoby/status/1067163909038125057
Meanwhile, on Earth, the same day we landed on Mars. https://t.co/JsPKfRZYkM
— Phil (Newsletter link in bio) Plait (@BadAstronomer) November 26, 2018
Such a sad contrast. At the exact same time NASA experts are celebrating a successful landing on Mars, Trump is dismissing a new climate change report. “I don’t believe it.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 26, 2018
The new probe will take a few months to place instruments on the surface of Mars and will study the planet from one stationary spot, according to NASA. InSight is expected to study the planet beyond its surface for the next two years.
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