On Monday 26 November Nasa’s Mars InSight probe touched down.
It is a wonderful technological achievement. Please note, I am using the adjective intentionally, ‘wonderful’ – an achievement that is (and should be seen as) ‘full of wonder’.
Underwhelming loss of wonder
But what has been noticeable has been the lack of excitement generated by the event. Sure, there were the now-expected photos of the Nasa scientists awkwardly high-fiving as the probe landed, but then the news quickly faded into the background. Even the name of the probe is markedly less interesting than other missions. Early Nasa flights were characterised by names of mythological gods, ‘Mercury’ and ‘Apollo’, but now we are into catchy and not very inspiring acronyms ‘Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport’ – InSight.
