NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s “mole” on Mars has failed. After nearly two years of attempting to dig the InSight lander’s heat probe – nicknamed the mole – into the Red Planet’s surface, engineers have finally given up.
The InSight lander arrived on Mars in November 2018. Its main purpose is to study the planet’s deep interior in order to help us understand the history of the solar system’s rocky worlds. The lander has three main instruments to help it do that: a seismometer to catch vibrations travelling through the ground, a radio to precisely measure Mars’s rotation and learn more about its metal core and a setup called the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP
The heat probe hasn’t been able to gain the friction it needs to dig, but the mission has been granted an extension to carry on with its other science.
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NASA lists 3 Things learned from Mars InSight Mission
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Technology |
Pasadena, CA – NASA’s InSight spacecraft touched down November 26th, 2018, on Mars to study the planet’s deep interior.
A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight’s probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet’s temperature, has made progress
[1], too.
There was a time when the surfaces of Mars and Earth were very similar. Both were warm, wet, and shrouded in thick atmospheres.
3 Things We ve Learned From NASA s Mars InSight
InSight Images Clouds on Mars: Clouds drift over the dome-covered seismometer, known as SEIS, belonging to NASA s InSight lander, on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption ›
Scientists are finding new mysteries since the geophysics mission landed two years ago.
NASA s InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet s deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight s probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet s temperature, has made progress, too.