RIP: Mars digger bites the dust after 2 years on red planet
PTI
Cape Canaveral |
Updated on
January 15, 2021
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The probe, dubbed the mole, was supposed to drill down 16 feet into Mars, but could do only a couple of feet
NASA has declared the Mars digger dead after failing to burrow deep into the red planet to take its temperature.
Scientists in Germany spent two years trying to get their heat probe, dubbed the mole, to drill into the Martian crust. But the 16-inch-long (40-centimetre) device that is part of NASA’s InSight lander couldn’t gain enough friction in the red dirt. It was supposed to bury 16 feet (5 metres) into Mars, but only drilled down a couple of feet (about a half metre).