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.