Nasa's Mars lander sends back first pictures from red planet

InSight probe reveals desolate landscape as dust settles after its arrival on Martian surface

This is the view across Elysium Planitia, the vast lava plain near the equator of Mars, where Nasa's InSight lander touched down after a hair-raising descent on Monday. The probe snapped the image of the desolate landscape as the dust thrown up by its arrival was still settling around it.

Over the coming days, InSight will take more photos of the landing site and send them back to Earth, where scientists will use them to decide where the probe should place its instruments.