InSight Mole Successfully Buried in the Marian Soil

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NASA’s InSight probe landed on Mars on 26^th November, 2018. As a part of NASA’s Discovery Program, the probe is undertaking a historically novel attempt at critically and thoroughly assessing the planet since its formation, billions of years ago. NASA defined its operation as a detailed exploration of the Marian ‘inner space’. The InSight mission is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The InSight exploration mission is a joint venture that includes European collaborators like France and Germany. Significant parts of the lander were designed and developed by different European research institutions. The success of the InSight mission is important to determine the habitability of the red planet.

InSightExploration

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport- orInSight- was successful in burying its Mole into the Martian surface. This success comes after almost two years of failed attempts. The InSight Mole is a 16 inch long pile driver and heat probe that will be used to derive scientific data about the surface of the red planet. Theoretically, the Mole will also assess the temperature of the Martian mantle and core. For this purpose, heat sensors are placed along the tethers of the mole – that connect it to the InSight Lander. The mole is called HP³ or the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package.

Success and the Way Forward

This prolonged period of unsuccessful attempts was because of duricrust or the hardening of the crust commonly experienced in extremely arid regions. For the mole to successfully operate, loose soil was supposed to flow around the mole, providing the necessary friction against its outer hull. However, duricrust prevented the necessary friction for the Mole to operate successfully and derive scientific readings. Without friction, the mole simply bounced back. However, NASA announced on 18^th October 2020, that the mole was successfully buried in the Marian soil- deeper than any previous attempts. This is a victory- albeit a small one- for the mission, as gathering exceptionally significant data will take time and intensive effort. The Mole has to be driven to a depth of at least 3-5 meters to ensure its optimal functionality. Troy Hudson, scientist and engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was quoted saying ‘but we’re not quite done. We want to make sure there’s enough soil on top of the mole to enable it to dig on its own, without any assistance from the arm’.