NASA declares Insight ‘mole’ probe defunct after it fails to burrow Mars 'deep enough'

NASA on January 16 declared Insight ‘mole’ defunct after it failed to burrow deep enough into the Red Planet to take its temperature. The lander arrived on the Martian surface in November 2018 and was declared dead only two years into the 16-inch (40 centimetres) heat probe after it couldn’t dig 6 feet into the Martian crust to detect the temperature of the mars dust.

Scientists in Germany said in NASA's release that the instrument could not gather enough friction to dig 5 meters into Mars, a task that it was equipped for, and instead drilled just about a half meter, couple of feet into the red planet’s surface despite repeated attempts. After almost 500 strokes, Insight lander gave up and died due to the clumpy dirt. 

“We’ve given it everything we’ve got, but Mars and our heroic mole remain incompatible,” the German Space Agency's Tilman Spohn, the lead scientist for the experiment said. He added that the drills Insight was able to carry out will contribute to the future mars mission, all the while regretting its failure. The lander was designed to demonstrate capabilities as per the Martian soil examinations conducted by the previous spacecraft, Spohn said. 

“We are so proud of our team who worked hard to get InSight’s mole deeper into the planet. It was amazing to see them troubleshoot from millions of miles away,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

[NASA's InSight lander on Mars. Credits: NASA/IPGP/Nicolas Sarter]

[The “mole,” a heat probe that traveled to Mars aboard NASA’s InSight lander. Credit: NASA]

[NASA Engineers Checking InSight's Weather Sensors. Credit: NASA]

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Designed by German Aerospace Center (DLR)

According to NASA, Insight’s temperature check would have helped the scientists to gather evidence related to the presence of water ice that could have been used for drinking or making fuel or would have provided the basis for the research related to the past microscopic life on the planet. The heat probe was built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and deployed on Mars by NASA’s Insight lander to unveil inside details of Martian soil to help scientists study Mars’ evolution and geology.

Lander’s weather station has been providing the space agency with the temperature of Mars' equatorial region known as the Elysium Planitia. Moreover, in its daily reports, Insight’s French seismometer last detected the martian plane’s temperature to be 17 degrees Fahrenheit and minus 56 degrees Fahrenheit on the lower side. Insight was granted at least a two-year extension and was expected to be joined by Perseverance rover this February 2021. The lander was accompanied by the Curiosity rover, already inspecting the red dirt. Meanwhile, NASA’s Phoenix lander has been able to scrap the top layer of the Martian surface.

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