NASA's InSight starts digging into Mars again, after burying itself

Raising massive outer space joy, NASA's InSight lander's probe on Mars, on Thursday, has used its robotic arm (mole) to dig nearly 2 centimeters (3/4 of an inch) over the past week, announced NASA. The mole is reportedly designed to dig as much as 16 feet (5 meters) underground to gauge the heat escaping from the planet's interior. But, unfortunately, it has only managed to partially bury itself since it started hammering in February 2019.

NASA's InSight probe digs into Mars

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As explained by NASA, the probe recently employed a new technique called 'pinning' to dig into the red planet's strong soil. By pressing the scoop on InSight's robotic arm against the mole appears to have provided the probe with the friction it needs to continue digging. NASA has stated that the mole has hammered 220 times over three separate occasions since 8 October 2019.

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What if 'mole' gets stuck again?

"The mole still has a way to go, but we're all thrilled to see it digging again," said Troy Hudson of NASA-JPL. NASA has stated that engineers will continue to test what would happen if the mole were to sink beneath the reach of the robotic arm. If it stops making progress, they might scrape soil on top of the mole, adding mass to resist the mole's recoil, stated NASA.

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What does NASA's InSight Lander do?

The InSight lander was launched by NASA to identify multiple quakes on Mars, which would present a clearer understanding of the planet's interior rock structure.  The results can then be compared with Earth's internal rock layers to learn the similarities and differences in which these two planets have evolved over time. The probe's mission is scheduled to last more than two earth years. Seismograph experts hope that by that time, InSight should record another dozen or so seismic signals in the initial operating period.

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