NASA’s Launching a Lander That Will Dig on Mars

NASA’s Launching a Lander That Will Dig on Mars

  • May 6, 2018
Table of Contents

NASA’s Launching a Lander That Will Dig on Mars

InSight will accomplish this feat with its Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), nicknamed “the mole” because it can burrow through regolith (the loose rocky surface layer on Mars and many other terrestrial planets). The instrument consists of a tube with a spring-loaded mechanism that will hammer out a hole in half-meter increments. Every 50 centimeters, it will stop for several hours or days to take thermal measurements and cool down from the frictional and operational heat generated by the dig process.

Source: vice.com

Tags :
Share :
comments powered by Disqus

Related Posts

NASA’s Got a Plan for a ‘Galactic Positioning System’ to Save Astronauts Lost in Space

NASA’s Got a Plan for a ‘Galactic Positioning System’ to Save Astronauts Lost in Space

Read More
Mining in Space Could Lead to Conflicts on Earth

Mining in Space Could Lead to Conflicts on Earth

Space mining is no longer science fiction. By the 2020s, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries—for-profit space-mining companies cooperating with NASA—will be sending out swarms of tiny satellites to assess the composition of hurtling hunks of cosmic debris, identify the most lucrative ones, and harvest them. They’ve already developed prototype spacecraft to do the job.

Read More
New Shepard flies again, bringing suborbital space tourism closer

New Shepard flies again, bringing suborbital space tourism closer

Sunday’s flight was Blue Origin’s eighth overall launch of the New Shepard system and the second time this particular spacecraft and booster have flown. They last flew in December. It is believed that this capsule, the third one built by the company, will undergo extensive testing before crew flights begin in the fourth vehicle.

Read More