built in Germany, The Mars mole HP3 has begun its historic Mission on the Red planet. The space probe was hammered for the first time in the Martian soil, according to the German center for air and space travel (DLR) on Friday. In the case of the four-hour operation she was shock with 4,000 hammer penetrated “approximately 18 to 50 inch” in the Martian soil.
In the coming weeks to work through the remote-controlled Mars mole up to five meters deep in the surface of the Red planet, in order to measure the heat flow in Mars ‘ interior. These data should help scientists better understand how earth-like body to emerge and develop.
“In his way in the deep is taken of the mole, apparently on a rock, inclined about 15 degrees and this pushed aside or past him pushed,” said the scientific Director of the HP3 experiment, Tilman Spohn. After it has cooled down, want to let the researchers, the robot once again, four hours of hammering. In the coming weeks, he should be provided then, in three to five meters depth of penetration – that the surface is porous enough.
How has the Interior of the planet?
The knee-high robot to measure the temperature to a thousandth of a degree Celsius. It can be, for example, how the Interior of the Red planet has developed and whether he still has a hot liquid core. The robot has been developed at the DLR and looks like a big nail with a built-in Hammer. He pulls a cord, which is equipped with temperature sensors.
The Robot mole was landed at the end of November on Board the Nasa’s InSight Mars – a 485-million-Kilometer journey. The 650-million dollar Nasa Mission to explore in the next two years of development, structure and physical properties of the crust, mantle and core of our neighbouring planet. The country place is located in a Region that is largely flat and free of larger stones and rocks. Previous Mars missions have not explored the area from the ground.
