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HomeTechnologyNASA's Mars mole use new technique to complete its mission

NASA’s Mars mole use new technique to complete its mission

Mars is one of the planets that NASA is studying. The agency’s Mars InSight lander is doing great on Mars. So far, the device is functioning properly and provides scientists with some interesting results. As the red plant’s first weather station, it detected Marsquakes. Therefore researches could get a good look at what lies beneath the planet’s surface. However, the lander’s self-hammering Mars mole is not so amazing. 

Experimentation Result

The NASA engineers have been trying for a few months to get the mole to work, but this time it looks like they will get it right. 

The way the machine works is that it should stay in one place on the Mars surface due to friction. This way, it can hammer itself deeper. One technique uses a robotic arm to push on the soil around the mole; however, it did not prove to be successful. Another time, the spacecraft physically pushed the mole into its hole, but it didn’t turn out well. The red planet spat the probe back up onto the surface.

However, during the last months of trials, the InSight lander only failed to do just that. NASA tried all kinds of new techniques to get the machine to work; however, it doesn’t look like they can get it to dig deeper into the martian ground. 

New Technique

The team is not giving up. There is a new technique they want to try out, which involves filling the hole. This way, the mole will have something to grab. The new experiment looks very promising, and we have images to confirm it. 

NASA InSight lander
Raw Image, NASA MARS InSight Mission.

As you can see in the above image, the InSight lander is completely covered by sand. It looks like the spacecraft is getting closer to fulfilling its purpose. However, there is still a long way to go. The lander will need to dig itself a few feet in order to provide scientists with relevant data. 

Whether the machine will actually be able to finish the task or not, we will soon find out. There is still hope left. 

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