Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:48 UTC
It s always a sad day when a mission comes to an end. And it s even sadder when the mission never really got going in the first place.
That s where we re at with NASA s InSight lander. The entire mission isn t over, but the so-called Mole, the instrument designed and built by Germany s DLR, has been pronounced dead.
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an instrument designed to measure the heat flowing from the Martian interior to the surface. The entire InSight mission (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport) was focused on discovering more about the interior of Mars. HP
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EVAN GOUGH, UNIVERSE TODAY
14 JANUARY 2021
It s always a sad day when a mission comes to an end. And it s even sadder when the mission never really got going in the first place.
That s where we re at with NASA s InSight lander. The entire mission isn t over, but the so-called Mole, the instrument designed and built by Germany s DLR, has been pronounced dead.
The Mole is, of course, the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3). It s an instrument designed to measure the heat flowing from the Martian interior to the surface. The entire InSight mission (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport) was focused on discovering more about the interior of Mars.
Scientists in Germany hoped to get their 16in heat probe - dubbed the mole - to drill 16t into the Martian crust - but it could not gain enough friction in the red dirt.
(Photo : Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) LOMPOC, CA - MAY 05: The NASA InSight spacecraft launches onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket, Saturday, May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the inner space of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
According to New Scientist s latest report, the InSight lander began operating on the Gaseous Giant two years ago. However, since it wasn t able to go further underground, NASA s engineers and other space experts gave up.
The giant space agency s Mole is a 16-inch heat probe. It is specifically designed to drill 16 feet into Jupiter s crust to take the planet s temperature.
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.