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Hi
Usually, getting to another planet is supposed to be the
hardest part of the mission. Not so for NASA’s InSight lander.
The probe touched down on the Red Planet in November
2018, and immediately started taking weather measurements and
photographing its new permanent home. Unlike its more famous
sibling missions like Opportunity and Curiosity, InSight is no rover,
and will instead perform its whole mission from one location in the
broad plain of Elysium Planitia near Mars’ equator.
But in 2019, that mission had a major hiccup. A part of InSight’s
Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) — an instrument
meant to burrow about 16 feet underground to measure how heat
travels through martian soil — got stuck on Feb. 28, shortly after it
began drilling. It had burrowed down only about 1 foot.
NASA engineers spent a long spring and summer testing ways
to fix “the mole,” as the drilling tool is nicknamed, including testing
possible solutions with models on Earth.
In June, the engineers decided to use InSight’s robotic arm to liftthe mole’s support structure out of the way, allowing them a look
at what was blocking the device. But the arm wasn’t designed for
such a delicate operation. It wasn’t clear if it could even perform
such a procedure — and if they accidentally pulled the mole out
with the structure, they would have no way to reset it. HP3 would be
instantly kaput.
Some welcome news arrived in October, however. The
researchers determined Mars’ unexpectedly hard soil had caused
the stoppage: The mole was simply bouncing in place rather than
digging deeper. Moving InSight’s robotic arm to press against the
mole, a technique called pinning, allowed the instrument to drill
almost an inch in just a week. Progress remains slow — but it’s still
advancing.
The rest of InSight’s instruments, which measure marsquakes
and monitor the weather, are still performing admirably. On
April 6, for example, the seismometer felt its first quake. By Earth
standards, it was small, but for the quieter Red Planet it was a
momentous occasion. Researchers aren’t sure yet of the exact
cause, but it is the first shaking that seems to have come from
within the planet. By continuing to listen and learn, InSight’s unique
instruments will provide even more lessons as the project enters its
second and final planned year.InSight’s
Frustrating First
Year on Mars
BY KOREY HAYNESInSight arrived on Mars
in late 2018. Weeks later,
a burrowing tool, the
Heat Flow and Physical
Properties Package
(HP 3 ), got stuck.