InSight lander moves its support structure to uncover its stuck ‘mole’ in preparation for rescue

NASA’s InSight lander begins making moves to rescue its ‘mole’ after the digging instrument got stuck in the Martian soil

  • NASA has taken one step toward saving a trapped instrument on Mars
  • A probe attached to the Insight lander has been stuck since February 
  • Using a robotic arm, NASA moved a support structure to get a better look
  • The agency will now visually inspect the probe and decide what to do next 

NASA’s Insight lander got one step closer to extricating a crucial device that has been wedged in Martian soil since February. 

In the first of several planned maneuvers, NASA’s Insight lander carefully moved part of its support structure which was obscuring the agency’s view, using the lander’s robotic arm.

The successful move puts a probe called the ‘mole’ within NASA’s view for the first time since it was ordered to stop drilling earlier this year.

 

NASA’s Insight Lander carefully moved part of its support structure which was obscuring the agency’s view, using the lander’s robotic arm. The space agency shared the above footage of it this week

‘We’ve completed the first step in our plan to save the mole,’ said Troy Hudson of a scientist and engineer with the InSight mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a statement. 

‘We’re not done yet. But for the moment, the entire team is elated because we’re that much closer to getting the mole moving again.’ 

The mission’s success also likely comes as a relief for scientists who feared that moving the support structure could have inadvertently removed the probe. 

If the mole were to be removed from its hole, NASA has no way of digging it back in.  

In February, after less than a year on Mars’ surface, NASA’s InSight Lander reported that a critical instrument — a ‘mole’ probe that is designed to burrow into the planet and assess heat emissions — hit a snag.

For several months, the probe, which was meant to bore 16 feet downward, has been trapped just 30 centimeters beneath the planet’s surface after less than a month into its burrowing process.

With recent efforts to move the support structure and get a glimpse of the probe, scientists say a theory that an unexpected behavior or Mars’ soil is to blame.    

The mission’s success also likely comes as a relief for scientists who feared that moving the support structure could have inadvertently removed the probe. If the mole were to be removed from its hole, NASA has no way of digging it back in. InSight’s instruments are labeled above

Scientist thought once the mole began hammering away at the surface, it would break away at the rock and sediment would form around the probe, creating friction.

Instead, the soil appears to have caked together and moved away from the instrument, creating empty space between the spike and the surface.

Initially, scientists posited that the probe — which consists of a spike and a tether — may have gotten stuck on a particularly strong rock, but new calumniation show that the chances of that being the case are only a few percent. 

From here, NASA says it will attempt to bring its camera closer for more detailed images of the mole so it can determine the next steps. The agency said it will have details on the next move for saving its Mars mole later this month.

WHAT ARE INSIGHT’S THREE KEY INSTRUMENTS?

The lander that could reveal how Earth was formed: InSight lander set for Mars landing on november 26th

The lander that could reveal how Earth was formed: InSight lander set for Mars landing on november 26th

Three key instruments will allow the InSight lander to ‘take the pulse’ of the red planet:

Seismometer: The InSight lander carries a seismometer, SEIS, that listens to the pulse of Mars. 

The seismometer records the waves travelling through the interior structure of a planet. 

Studying seismic waves tells us what might be creating the waves. 

On Mars, scientists suspect that the culprits may be marsquakes, or meteorites striking the surface. 

Heat probe: InSight’s heat flow probe, HP3, burrows deeper than any other scoops, drills or probes on Mars before it. 

It will investigate how much heat is still flowing out of Mars. 

Radio antennas: Like Earth, Mars wobbles a little as it rotates around its axis. 

To study this, two radio antennas, part of the RISE instrument, track the location of the lander very precisely. 

This helps scientists test the planet’s reflexes and tells them how the deep interior structure affects the planet’s motion around the Sun.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk