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German mole on Mars rover is kaput
Friday January 15, 2021
The InSight lander’s Mars digger has been declared dead after “the mole” failed to dig deep enough to take the Red Planet’s temperature.
Photo: NASA
German scientists spent two years trying to get their heat probe, dubbed the mole, to drill into the Martian crust.
But the 41cm-long device that is part of NASA’s InSight lander could not gain enough friction in the red dirt.
It was supposed to bury five metres into Mars but only drilled down about 60cm.
Following one last unsuccessful attempt to hammer itself down at the weekend with 500 strokes,…
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