Home » Poems » Mark Toney » My Name is Etched on Insight Lander

Notes About The Poem

I wrote this lyric poem to the tune of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (Songwriters: Douglass Cross / George C. Jr Cory). Why would I do that? Well, my name is etched on a microchip aboard NASA's InSight mission to Mars along with 2,429,807 other names from around the world. Insight launched on May 5, 2018, and landed on Mars on November 26, 2018. It successfully performed its mission until its batteries gradually weakened because of accumulated dust on its solar panels. On December 15, 2022, the lander made its final transmission to Earth. Elton said it best, "It's lonely out in space." ;)

My Name is Etched on Insight Lander

My name is etched
On Insight Lander
On Martian soil
It waits for me
To be where gravity is low
So be careful where you go
Mars’ atmosphere has little air
So beware
My name’s still etched
On Insight Lander
Along with miliions
Who like me dream
If we can get to you
Insight Lander
Your solar panels
We’ll surely clean

funhumanityinspirationjourneysonglyric

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Lin Lane

Date: 1/11/2024 10:24:00 AM

I'm glad I live on Venus if that's the way Martians are. I'll thank you to stay away from my solar panels!

Mark Toney
Date: 1/11/2024 10:21:00 PM

What a fun comment, Lin. There’s no dust on your solar panels! You’re always operating at 100%. Thanks for brightening my day :)

Paghunda Zahid

Date: 1/2/2024 9:44:00 AM

Haha well congratulations for being on Mars... I hope someday we will be able to visit these planets... And the journey won't take long. I am pretty hopeful we gonna invest teleportation techniques soon, or may be we will discover a warmhole somewhere here, and would be able to travel universe through that. Hopefully!!

Mark Toney
Date: 1/3/2024 6:02:00 AM

Thank you, Paghunda. Won’t that be fun! Beam me up, Scotty :)

Beata Agustin

Date: 1/2/2024 2:43:00 AM

Thanks for sharing this. God bless you. Meanwhile, I greet you with a Joyous New Year with this prayer from the Bible in Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

Mark Toney
Date: 1/3/2024 6:24:00 AM

Thank you, Beata, for your kindness. Here is a Scripture that motivates me from the Bible in Romans 8:38, 39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Tom Woody

Date: 12/24/2023 11:49:00 AM

Nice poem Mark. Hey, if ya wanna get more attention ya gotta give it. Otherwise ya might as well be posting in a diary

Mark Toney
Date: 12/24/2023 10:25:00 PM

I appreciate your kind advice, Tom, but I’m content with the attention I already receive. As far as posting in a diary, I’m posting on one of the best international websites for poets—Poetry Soup. The icing on the cake is that my poems have been included in all three anthologies. So I’m where I want to be. Muchas gracias, mi hermano.

Christina Bowring

Date: 12/18/2023 3:51:00 PM

Really enjoyed reading this poem Mark. I found it fascinating. I love the idea of having your name in space,’ on Martian soil’. That is a cool thing as LL has said. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you a great Christmas:):)

Mark Toney
Date: 12/18/2023 7:13:00 PM

I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Christina. Thank you for the well wishes. Best wishes to you and yours.