[ad_1]
The "mole" aboard NASA InSight Mars lander encountered strong resistance during his first stay under the surface of the red planet.
InSight's is a major event in the mission. Heat flow and set of physical properties (HP3), the instrument sank underground for the first time on February 28th. After four hundred hammer blows in the space of four hours, the instrument apparently stood between 18 and 50 centimeters under the red earth, but the obstacles slowed down. its progress, said the team members of the mission.
"On its way into the depths, the mole seems to have hit a rock, tilted about 15 degrees and spread or exceeded," said lead investigator HP3, Tilman Spohn, of the Center. German Aerospace (DLR). , said in a statement.
Related: Mars InSight in Photos: A Look at the Red Planet
"The mole then made its way to another stone at an advanced depth until the expected run time of the first four-hour sequence was over," added Spohn. "Tests on Earth have shown that the rod-shaped penetrometer is able to push small stones to the side, which takes a lot of time."
I dig #March! My self-hammering mole has started to bury itself and my team is looking at the data I sent them. They estimate that it could be about 35 cm (14 in) less. More pounding coming, while I'm looking inside Mars.? More from @DLR_en: https://t.co/FsmfN0WVpa pic.twitter.com/CRHFDp6ouKMarch 1, 2019
The $ 850 million InSight lander is an abbreviation for inland exploration using seismic surveys, geodesy and heat transport. landed on November 26. The spacecraft aims to map the interior of the red planet with unprecedented details.
This will be done mainly by characterizing the "marsquakes" and other vibrations with a series of hypersensitive seismometers, which was built by a consortium led by the French space agency CNES; and measure the heat flux below the surface with HP3 provided by DLR.
During a first exploration of the planet Mars, InSight placed these two instruments directly on the Martian Earth with the help of its robotic arm. Seismometers do their job on the surface, but HP3 has to go down – much deeper than it has managed to get so far. The mission team wants the mole to enter the ground between 3 and 5 meters underground.
"The mole will pull a 5-meter-long clip equipped with temperature sensors in the Martian soil behind it," DLR officials wrote in the same statement. "The cable is equipped with 14 temperature sensors to measure the temperature distribution with the depth and its evolution over time after reaching the target depth and thus the heat flow from the inside of March."
The digging process will take time, even if the mole is making its way into the difficult area. The dug holes generate heat that would compromise HP3 measurements. The instrument cools for two days after each four hour pounding session. He then records temperatures for a day before digging again, said DLR officials. (A Martian day, or ground, lasts about 24 hours and 40 minutes.)
The InSight surface mission is designed to last at least one Martian year, which equates to 687 Earth days.
Mike Wall's book on the search for extraterrestrial life, "Over there"(Grand Central Publishing, 2018, illustrated by Karl Tate) is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link