The InSight HP³ Penetrator (Mole) on Mars: Soil Properties Derived from the Penetration Attempts and Related Activities.

ABSTRACT: The NASA InSight Lander on Mars includes the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package HP³ to measure the surface heat flow of the planet. The package uses temperature sensors that would have been brought to the target depth of 3-5 m by a small penetrator, nicknamed the mole. The mole requiring friction on its hull to balance remaining recoil from its hammer mechanism did not penetrate to the targeted depth. Instead, by precessing about a point midway along its hull, it carved a 7 cm deep and 5-6 cm wide pit and reached a depth of initially 31 cm. The root cause of the failure - as was determined through an extensive, almost two years long campaign - was a lack of friction in an unexpectedly thick cohesive duricrust. During the campaign - described in detail in this paper - the

SUBMITTER: Spohn T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9734249 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature