Now that the Mars SpaceX InSight lander has officially touched down, new discoveries on space and if life could be on Mars are realistic. The successful landing is the beginning of a two-year, 850 million dollar mission to Mars.

According to NBC News, the mission launched on May 5th, 2018 and landed on the planet on November 26th, 2018. A journey of 301 million miles, the lander touched down on the surface of Mars at Elysium Planitia, a broad plain that straddles the equator of Mars. The robot will deploy a seismometer, an instrument that measures ground motions, and burrow a heat probe.

“I don’t think that the SpaceX landing will have much of an impact on us physically quite yet, but I do think that it will definitely open up our minds to the new realities and possibilities of traveling and living on Mars,” said sophomore Emily Lewis.

Elon Musk is a technology entrepreneur, investor and engineer. Musk is the lead founder and designer of the SpaceX rocket, and he says that the SpaceX in seven years could land humans on the moon and possibly the Mars itself.

The SpaceX InSight Lander will be able to study the interior of Mars and help tell how rocky planets like Mars may have formed 4.5 billion years ago, according to NASA. With new science and technology, scientists and astronomers are able to discover new and exciting things not just about Earth, but in this case if life could be on Mars.