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The probe of the Mars InSight Lander has hit a snag somewhere at 7" to 12" below the surface. It's thought it might have hit some rocky material. The drill was designed to dig down 9.8 feet to about 16.5 feet. It's hoped it can get past the snag. If it's a large rock, it might not be able to go any farther down.
That’s the trouble with unmanned missions unfortunately. Hopefully they can work it around it.
That's the trouble with landers for a mission like this. No mobility. It can't just be picked up and swiveled to try a different spot. If their guess is right, and it's just gravel in the way, maybe they can manage to hammer through it. I think the arm can be swiveled a little bit, maybe manage to angle the bit slightly. If it's a larger rock, it's game over for that part of the mission. That'd be a bummer. It's a 828.8 million dollar piece of equipment.
There's obviously some "luck" involved with these Mars missions both good and bad. What are the odds that you drill down anywhere on the Mars surface and hit a large rock 7 to 12 inches down?
Surely they must have tested it here on earth? They extensively test these things due to the non-availability of spare parts on Mars, and the cost of developing it so I am guessing they MUST have tried the scenario where there is a huge rock beneath the drill.
So, what can it be? If you think of it this way, there seems very little it could be but some kind of alien spacecraft buried under the surface. (thats a joke by the way)
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