/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12736275
>>12736280
wow, sounds like this was all very involved.

>In October 2019, the researchers at JPL concluded that the soil on Mars does not provide necessary friction for drilling, causing the mole to bounce around and form a wide pit around itself rather than dig deeper. They attempted a maneuver called pinning in which they pressed the side of the scoop against the mole location to pin the side of the wall of the hole and increase friction. Pinning was initially successful, but then the mole backed out of its hole after a few weeks, suggesting the soil is accumulating below the mole.
>In June 2020, the team reported that the mole was finally underground, and was being evaluated to determine if the mole was able to dig as designed.[124] On 9 July 2020, it was revealed that images taken on 20 June 2020 showed the mole bouncing again, indicating that it did not have sufficient friction to dig deeper. One suggested solution was to partially fill the hole with soil to increase friction.
>By August 2020, the operations team had made some progress using the scoop to assist the mole in digging deeper into its hole, by pressing against the back. The scoop was used to fill the hole of the partially submerged mole, burying it fully for the first time. The team hoped the mole can now dig further into the surface on its own, possibly with the additional assistance of the scoop.
>On 14 January 2021, the heat probe part of the mission was declared to be over, after the science team had determined that the soil properties at the landing location were too different from what the instrument had been designed for.
shame. Guess they learned about martian soil, though. Even if it was the hard way.