Monday, November 26, 2018

Well, it didn't crash

At about 3:00 this afternoon, NASA managed to land another robot explorer on the surface of Mars.

This one doesn't have wheels. This robot has a drill and a seismic sensor. Well, actually, it's not really a drill in that it doesn't spin a cutting head to burrow into the planet. Think of it instead as a hammer with a nail.

Every day for a few hours, the hammer will whack the nail, driving it deeper into the planet. While it is hammering, the seismic sensor will record the impacts in order to determine what substance is being penetrated.

Once it reaches about 16 feet, it will be at its deepest and it will continue to conduct its seismic experiments.

Not as cool as the little robots that drive around and look at stuff but still, if this thing happens to find ice or liquid water below the surface, that will be very cool indeed.


Well, time for me to find some bad television. Here are some links you may find entertaining or enlightening:

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