NASA is about to break new ground like
never before by sending a giant drill to
Mars
it's the largest drill nASA has ever
sent to space and it will dig deeper
into Mars than ever before the mission
uncover clues to one of the most
outstanding mysteries in our solar
system
NASA's 850 million dollar insight Lander
is the first design to study the
interior structure of Mars until now
NASA's Landers mainly focused on
exploring Mars is surface for signs of
potential life they've touched down near
volcanoes valleys and canyons but in
sight won't be going anywhere like that
since insight is not a rover and can't
move around NASA has one shot to land it
in the perfect spot here Elysium
Planitia sometimes referred to as the
biggest parking lot on mars it's one of
the plainest spots NASA could find and
the perfect place for insight for one
it's close to the equator guaranteeing
the solar panels that power insights
instruments will work year-round for its
nearly two-year mission but most
importantly that smooth surface will
make it easier for insights drill to
bore deep into the Martian soil the
drill works like a motorized nail
hammering itself into the ground over
the course of 40 days the drill will
reach 16 feet into the planet that's
roughly the length of a car for
comparison NASA's Curiosity rover only
dug about half an inch deep that's the
length of an aspirin pill as insight
digs it will occasionally shoot out
bursts of heat by calculating how
quickly that heat warms the ground
around it insight can measure the
chemical makeup of the soil but insight
drill pulls double duty as it hammers
away it also sends vibrations through
the ground which are sensitive to
different layers that might be
hiding under the surface for example if
Mars has underground lava flows those
vibrations will find them but this only
gives NASA clues to the shallower layers
of Mars to understand the deep inner
core insight has another tool that will
measure how much Mars wobbles on its
axis it works similar to an egg if you
spin an uncooked egg the liquid yolk
will slosh around making the egg wobble
but if the inside is cooked there's less
wobble similarly how much maras wobbles
can tell us whether its core is molten
liquid or solid metal and all these
clues can help scientists solve a bigger
mystery of how rocky planets like Mars
and Earth formed in the first place
by studying the interior of Mars
scientists can get a better grasp on how
Mars has evolved over billions of years
from a warm wet world to the desolate
landscape it is today but there's an
even bigger objective on the horizon
ultimately the more we know about our
own solar system the better we get at
searching for other planets beyond our
solar system that may have the potential
to harbor life