After early June, the unit was able to InSight buried in the ground of Mars special umbrella, NASA was confident that all difficulties already behind. However, “mole”, which was to achieve a minimum depth of three meters, again ran into trouble.
For a long 17 months, NASA tried to bury the mole in the Martian soil. The process was slow and painful, as the composition of Martian soil was not such as scientists expected. There was nothing left to do but to improvise and “podpisyvat” probe special robotic arm.
And when the mole was under the ground, scientists had hoped that all difficulties behind, and the probe will be able to descend to a minimum depth of three meters. However, on June 20, scientists have obtained images showing that during drilling in the scoop are pieces of soil, and this may indicate that the mole just bounces up and down, banging on the bottom of the scoop.
To delve further can be very difficult. According to the June pictures rope the mole swinging from side to side. Scientists suggest that the soil does not provide enough friction to dive. It could make the mole to bounce and bounce. At the moment the team is trying to figure out how to provide the friction to allow the probe could take at least the minimum depth.
The main goal of the InSight mission is the study of the internal structure and composition of Mars. For the study of heat flow under the surface of the red planet, scientists hoped to drill a well five meters, however, is that to achieve the desired depth is not obtained.
