Does look like it might have pulled a few mm more cable into the hole. But I think it is the weight of the scoop pressing on and repositioning the cable. I doubt the probe could be going more horizontal.

I was surprised that they didn't put pressure on the probe (with the scoop) from the left side in an attempt to make it a bit more vertical. Perhaps the left side was inaccessible to the scoop.

Almost as if it is running into something hard.

This tweet seems to show quite a bit more progress. https://twitter.com/NASAInSight/status/1197594417667772416

Looks like it may have dropped down a bit after removing the scoop.

Tweet from NASAInsight
"My heat probe recovery efforts continue…
I’m going to use my scoop to push sideways on the mole, “pinning” it against the soil wall. This may help it get more traction to start digging again. More details: http://go.nasa.gov/2OhxNFz"

Has there been any discussion of scooping soil from an adjacent area and using it to fill the hole?

Sure would appear there is material missing from the hole. Where did it all go? Is the soil so compressible that it is all still there - perhaps pounded into a hard plug at the bottom?

"If removed from the soil, the mole can't go back in."

Why is this? I understand that the structure provides initial guidance for the probe and that there is no way to reinsert the probe into the structure, but couldn't the arm be used to provide a bit of guidance to the probe to get it restarted?

No, its off. Think they need to send up a tech with a lens cloth to clean that lens.

Thanks. Been bugging me for quite some time now that I couldn't remember the mission. Seems my sense of time is way off though. I remembered this as something that happened in my late teens, maybe early 20's. That would have been late 60's early 70's. But Galileo was launched in 1989......




I almost posted in "Chit Chat", but the description of Chit Chat is "Outside the realms of Spaceflight all together." I didn't think my question was Outside the realms of Spaceflight all together.

The description of "Past and Future" is "...missions from the past and the future". I thought that best fit my question.

When I was a teenager (45 - 50 years ago), there was a mission launched where the main parabolic high gain antenna did not open fully. What was this mission and how did they solve the antenna problem?

Do I remember right that Oppy's wheel motors have brushes? If so, how in the world (or how on Mars) can those brushes not be totally worn away? Yet Oppy keeps on going, and going, and going.....

Yes. Thank you.

Why are two lines shown?

Then it is not black. "Black is.... the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light." (Wikipedia). If the trim was black, it would not be reflecting any ambient lighting.

First burn complete. Looks like it went well.

Dune crossed!
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/43...7592064/photo/1

Didn't see this posted elsewhere

Ustream event Jan 16, 7PM PST
http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL

What is that you caught that shows as a streak about 60% down (top to bottom) and 80% across (left to right). Just above/left of the larger cloud?

What is that dark area moving across the backshell (5 o'clock - 4 o'clock positions)? Almost looks like a very slow moving cloud.

I always thought that 100% relative humidity was when the partial pressure of the water vapor in the atmosphere was equal to the vapor pressure of liquid water at a given temperature. As such, partial pressures of other gasses in the atmosphere would be irrelevant.

Per http://www.space.com/17174-mars-rover-curi...eadline+Feed%29, should be steering actuator tests tosol, first movement sol 16.

Thank you!

Bingo for me. Works fine at home, but not at work. Work is behind a proxy.