Visit Our Event Campaign Page   Investigating the Red Planet's Interior Structure The Mars Insight Lander touched down on Mars at around noon Pacific (3 p.m. Eastern) on Nov. 26, 2018. The lander plunged through the thin Martian atmosphere, heatshield first, and use a parachute to slow down. Then, it fired its retro rockets to slowly descend to the surface of Mars, and land on the smooth plains of Elysium Planitia InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It [...]