NASA's InSight lander successfully lands on Mars, prepares to investigate the planet's...

[Polycount]

What just happened? If you're a fan of all things Mars and space-related, we've got some good news for you. Today, NASA's InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander finally made its way through deep space, successfully touching down on the Red Planet's surface with no significant complications to speak of.

As reported by Wired, confirmation of the lander's touchdown was relayed to NASA engineers courtesy of two "briefcase-sized" satellites, dubbed Mars Cube One-A and Mars Cube One-B.

Update: NASA has tweeted the first photo taken by InSight after the lens cover was off. See below.

There’s a quiet beauty here. Looking forward to exploring my new home. #MarsLanding pic.twitter.com/mfClzsfJJr

— NASAInSight (@NASAInSight) November 27, 2018

As you can probably imagine, everyone in NASA's Mission Control room was pretty happy to hear that the lander had touched down safely. You can watch their reactions for yourself in the following 360 video, which was livestreamed on one of the organization's official YouTube channels.

InSight's first job is to deploy solar panels, which will be used to keep the machine running during its time on Mars. While it'll be some time before that happens, space enthusiasts have something to analyze in the interim: InSight's first photograph of Mars, which can be seen below.

The picture is far from clear, due in no small part to the thick layer of dust and dirt coating InSight's camera lens. However, we can likely expect to see better-quality images of the Red Planet in the future, as InSight's mission progresses.

If you haven't been keeping up with NASA's InSight project so far, the lander was first launched on May 5, with the goal of giving us our first real look at Mars' interior.

InSight will spend its days performing a "sweeping geophysical investigation" that could answer some of science's longest-standing questions about the planet - specifically, questions about its "formation, evolution, and composition."

Update 11/27/2018: An earlier version of this article mistakenly implied that the InSight lander was a mobile device. This has since been corrected. Furthermore, a higher quality image taken by the lander is now available - see it below.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/77582-nasa-insight-lander-successfully-lands-mars-prepares-investigate.html

 

[VitalyT]

As you can probably imagine, everyone in NASA's Mission Control room was pretty happy to hear that the lander had touched down safely.

No, I can't imagine why NASA people would be happy about any of this. Now Musk is gonna start moving over, imagine what happens next.

we can likely expect to see better-quality images of the Red Planet in the future

If I close my eyes and bang my head on the wall, I will see images of better quality than those ones. It looks like martian crap all over the lens.

that could answer some of science's longest-standing questions about the planet - specifically, questions about its "formation, evolution, and composition."

Boy, did I guess those questions wrong! I may not be enough of a geek after all.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

This thing cost millions, and they couldn't even figure out how to clean the camera.

 

[psycros]

As you can probably imagine, everyone in NASA's Mission Control room was pretty happy to hear that the lander had touched down safely.

No, I can't imagine why NASA people would be happy about any of this. Now Musk is gonna start moving over, imagine what happens next.

we can likely expect to see better-quality images of the Red Planet in the future

If I close my eyes and bang my head on the wall, I will see images of better quality than those ones. It looks like martian crap all over the lens.

that could answer some of science's longest-standing questions about the planet - specifically, questions about its "formation, evolution, and composition."

Boy, did I guess those questions wrong! I may not be enough of a geek after all.

This thing cost millions, and they couldn't even figure out how to clean the camera.

They have some strong internet connection thats why it cost millions. The internet cost in the us is insane supposedly the average is $50-60 for high speed internet. The internet bill for me is ~$130 I use xfinity. That's just the amount per month. They definitely had to get a cheap camera because of the high internet cost.

And you're paying for THAT internet as well, LOL! Seriously, though..you're not wrong. The cheapest unlimited connection I can get is $55/month and its 400mbs. I don't need that kind of speed - what I need is no data cap and no surprises! But the cable companies have a monopolistic cartel so they know they can rape you to their heart's content. Thanks for keeping that intact, Ajit, and you still found time to kill net neutrality!

 

[fktech]

Way to go NASA!!! Just WOW!!! Another success!

 

[Bubbajim]

InSight's first job is to deploy solar panels, which will be used to keep the machine running while it treks around Mars

It won't be trekking anywhere, it's not a rover, it's a lander. It's a stationary lab with a bunch of experiments lined up, but no wheels. Still freaking cool though.

And lol@ the comments here, we land something on Mars and people take the opportunity to say, "but ma' internetz!" GG folks.

 

[wiyosaya]

This thing cost millions, and they couldn't even figure out how to clean the camera.

The twitter feed in the article has a better picture now. Just in case here's another link to it - https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8393/insight-is-catching-rays-on-mars/

And you're paying for THAT internet as well, LOL! Seriously, though..you're not wrong. The cheapest unlimited connection I can get is $55/month and its 400mbs. I don't need that kind of speed - what I need is no data cap and no surprises! But the cable companies have a monopolistic cartel so they know they can rape you to their heart's content. Thanks for keeping that intact, Ajit, and you still found time to kill net neutrality!

Adventure Wireless http://www.adventure-wireless.com/pricing.html Maybe they will have an answer for you.

As far as Ajit goes, maybe Musk will take him to Mars.

 

[Polycount]

InSight's first job is to deploy solar panels, which will be used to keep the machine running while it treks around Mars

It won't be trekking anywhere, it's not a rover, it's a lander. It's a stationary lab with a bunch of experiments lined up, but no wheels. Still freaking cool though.

And lol@ the comments here, we land something on Mars and people take the opportunity to say, "but ma' internetz!" GG folks.

Oopsie. I'm dumb. Shortly after writing that sentence I realized my mistake, but forgot to correct it. I've fixed it and added an addendum to the end of the article to reflect the change. Thanks!

Also, to others who have posted the newer, higher-quality image, that's also been added to the article for future visitors.

 

[andrebless]

Nice article.Another success of Nasa.

 

[wiyosaya]

How much Mbps download, how much Mbps upload. also no comparison to xfinity/comacast.

Except when you don't have xfinity/comcast in your area and are stuck with god awful CS Spectrum. That's the best thing - my money is no longer supporting Spectrum shysters.

40 down 2 up. Don't use much up though.

 

[wiyosaya]

Also, to others who have posted the newer, higher-quality image, that's also been added to the article for future visitors.

Thanks for posting the updated image. It seems like some people (not you) think that NASA is all about pretty pictures.

On some NASA missions, pretty pictures come along with the scientific benefits. However, with this mission, pretty pictures will be highly unlikely - IMO. It's primary mission is to observe the seismic nature of Mars. It is unclear to me whether they will employ seismic imaging ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_seismology and http://sepwww.stanford.edu/data/media/public/sep/biondo/3DSI_frame.html ) or not, however, one of the goals of the mission is to determine whether Mars has a solid or liquid (molten metal like Earth perhaps) core.

 

[Polycount]

Thanks for posting the updated image. It seems like some people (not you) think that NASA is all about pretty pictures.

On some NASA missions, pretty pictures come along with the scientific benefits. However, with this mission, pretty pictures will be highly unlikely - IMO. It's primary mission is to observe the seismic nature of Mars. It is unclear to me whether they will employ seismic imaging ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_seismology and http://sepwww.stanford.edu/data/media/public/sep/biondo/3DSI_frame.html ) or not, however, one of the goals of the mission is to determine whether Mars has a solid or liquid (molten metal like Earth perhaps) core.

Yep, I was surprised that it was taking pictures at all. Seems like a job for a rover, not a lander. I'm excited to see what information NASA can dig up.

 

[wiyosaya]

Yep, I was surprised that it was taking pictures at all. Seems like a job for a rover, not a lander. I'm excited to see what information NASA can dig up.

Awesome pun!