The “Mars bulldozer” is not trying to break through the planet

In 2018, the InSight lander landed on Mars with the clear goal of drilling the Martian surface in order to better study its conditions. Two years later and after much trial and sacrifice, We had to give up the mission. InSight only drilled 10% of the depth that should be drilled.

As announced by NASA, the mission was officially lost afterwards The lander could not dig the surface of Mars. This was the main objective of the mission to drill the surface to more accurately measure the temperature of the planet. Without the opportunity to do so, there is no choice but to end the mission.

A team of German scientists was assigned to lead the mission. For two years they have been trying to get a probe for the internal heat of Mars and its crust. The device that was supposed to pierce the surface it should be five meters deep, instead it only bored a maximum of 40 centimeters.

In the past few days, engineers have tried to carry out the excavation for the last time. After more than 500 hits on the surface over several days and with no results the mission was considered a failure.

Essential actions for future missions

It wasn’t all a waste of time. The lander was equipped with additional tools such as a seismometer to measure earthquakes (martemots?) On Mars. Nearly 500 specimens have been registered in these two years, which confirms that it is a geologically active planet. It is also equipped with a small weather station that records and broadcasts the temperatures of the planet on a daily basis.

Out of curiosity, the InSight lander was also useful for hearing the sounds of Mars for the first time. Equipped with a microphone, picked up the sound of the wind on the red planet.

They hope that this effort will be at least Help with future missions and excavations on Mars. In addition to measuring the temperature of the planet, excavating the surface of Mars has other interests and uses. For example, it is important to find liquid water and other elements that can help colonize the planet.

If it is already difficult to dig five meters here on earth, even more hundreds of millions of kilometers under extreme and remote environmental conditions. For now InSight has finished its work and there will be other missions that will continue with him. Perseverance is the next that should successfully land on the neighboring planet.

Via | POT