NASA's 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
InSight Lander is the first designed
to study the interior structure of Mars.
Until now, NASA's landers mainly focused
on exploring Mars' surface
for signs of potential life.
They've touched down near
volcanoes, valleys, and canyons.
But InSight 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 InSight's
instruments will work year-round
for its nearly two-year mission.
But most importantly,
that smooth surface will make it easier
for InSight's 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's 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
Mars 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.
