Last month, InSight placed its火星上的第二仪器，热流和物理性质包装（HP3). The instrument’s self-hammering spike (nicknamed mole) aims to dig 16 ft below the Martian surface “to measure the heat coming from inside the planet,” according to NASA.
Shortly after starting its dig Thursday, February 28, the mole停止了下降. It only reached “about three-fourths of the way out of its housing structure,” before the standstill, reports NASA. The team tried a second hammering attempt Saturday, March 2, to no avail.
With data indicating the mole is sitting at a 15-degree tilt, scientists propose the instrument encountered a rock or gravel. The team tried to avoid this situation, picking a dig site that they thought had a minimal amount of subsurface rocks. The instrument can even push small rocks out of its way, proven time and time again during tests before the launch.
（图片来源：NASA / JPL-CALTECH / DLR）
“The team has decided to pause the hammering for now to allow the situation to be analyzed more closely and jointly come up with strategies for overcoming the obstacle,” says HP3Principal Investigator Tilman Spohn of the German Aerospace Center (DLR)在博客帖子中. Spohn explains hammering will be suspended for two weeks.
虽然令人担忧的是传播，但乐观仍然是胜利。“团队中的感觉是什么？我们有点担心，因为我们很快就击中了一个或两个障碍，但往往是乐观的，“spohn写道。
通过挖掘暂停，洞察力将进行测试，测量热量通过地下移动的程度，称为导热率。
“该团队本周将进行进一步的加热试验以测量上表面的导热率。它们还将在Insight的甲板上使用辐射计来测量表面的温度变化。火星的月亮Phobos本周将多次在阳光下传球;像云层的云一样，Eclipse将变暗并冷却洞察力的地面，“根据美国宇航局。”
Spohn预测，“很多才能做到很多优秀的科学，从HP预期3来自Insight！“对于最近的攻击努力，Spohn承认“行星勘探并不像馅饼一样容易！”
（图片来源：NASA / JPL-CALTECH / DLR）
Filed Under:航空航天+防御
