Here's what the floor looked like after InSight landed on Mars

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When InSight landed on Mars on November 26, 2018, he deployed a parachute to slow his descent into the thin Martian atmosphere. Approaching the surface, he fired his retro rocket to slow it down further, then gently touched the surface. In doing so, his retro rockets have dug two small pits in the Martian soil.

Once InSight was installed on the smooth surface of Elysium Planitia, he drew up an inventory of his environment and checked his systems. On December 14, day of the 18th martial day of the planned 709 ground mission, the lander used his instrument deployment camera (IDC) to capture this image of the macabre surface of Martian. We clearly see two pits dug by the landing rockets.

NASA produced this enhanced contrast image to better show the details of the two pits. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

InSight's mission is to understand the internal structure of Mars. In turn, scientists will learn how Mars and other rocky planets in the solar system were formed.

It is safe to say that the main instrument of InSight is the set of heat flows and physical properties (HP3). HP3 has to make its way to the surface of Mars to do its work and problems. As reported in Universe Today last week, HP3, or the mole, stalled to a depth of about 30 cm (11.8 inches).

NASA and DLR engineers are working on the problem and believe that cavities have developed between the mole and the ground. Since mole hammering relies on friction with the ground to achieve the required working depth, these cavities are problematic. Engineers will try to use the InSight robotic arm to lift the Mole support structure from the probe.

The set of heat flow and physical properties deployed on the Martian surface. Image Credit: NASA / DLR
The set of heat flow and physical properties deployed on the Martian surface. Image Credit: NASA / DLR

Once they have removed it, they can better look in the hole and see what the problem is. They may also be able to use the arm to help the mole to seep into the ground. The problem is that there is a risk of removing the mole from the ground. And if that happens, the game is probably over. They have no way to grab the mole directly and place it elsewhere.

The InSight lander is a partnership between NASA and European partners. It is managed by NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). The European partners are:

The lander itself was built by Lockheed Martin Space. They started the construction of InSight in May 2014. The total cost of the mission is estimated at 830 million US dollars.

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