The Plan — For My Lil’ Mining Buddy — On Mars, Going Forward…

We are still at least a week or so away from knowing that the hammer has been freed up — and is making progress toward its five meters deep target drill depth.

But this is the latest, from NASA, JPL and DLR — the fine German hammer’s engineering team:

. . .Later this month, the team plans to conduct a 10-to-15-minute hammering test. That will allow InSight’s seismometer to “listen” to the mole striking whatever obstacle it has hit, offering possible clues as to what may be blocking it. Meanwhile, the camera on InSight’s robotic arm will photograph the mole’s support structure in the hopes of catching any possible motion induced by the mole during hammering. . . .

Now you know. Keeping my fingers. . . crossed, on this one.

नमस्ते