In this picture taken by the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) at 16:02:00 LMST, we can see the robotic arm of InSight raised to allow a better analysis of the situation.A couple of days ago it was tried to lift the robotic arm only a few millimeters to verify the stability of MOLE, in order to avoid that it could exit the hole and fall inexorably lying on the ground.I think we will have to wait a bit before seeing what will be the next move to try again to bury MOLE; hopes are now hanging by a thread, but anyway it’s still early to give up.This photo has been processed to allow a better view of the colors, balancing the white and slightly increasing the microcontrast and color saturation.Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/710852/ https://mars.nasa.gov/insight-raw-images/surface/sol/0332/idc/D000M0332_626013669EDR_F0000_0829M_.JPG This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 18:06:57 UTC the Mastcam Right has captured this suggestive hill of stratified rocks with a beautiful blue sky for background.Curiosity is heading to this hill to perform in-depth investigations; do you recognize it?Look at the image archive on this page and let’s see how many of you will be able to recognize this detail that in the coming days we can admire more and more closely!The original image is a black and white encoding of the Bayer mask that has been converted to color through a process called “debayering” or “demosaicing”. In addition, the photo has undergone noise reduction due to Jpeg compression, white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation in order to make the colors more similar to what the human eye would see. Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/701095/ https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02568/mcam/2568MR0134810091100010C00_DXXX.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

Your browser does not support HTML video. First official article about the strange accident that brought MOLE out of the hole so laboriously dug and that had brought MOLE now completely underground.The first official explanation talks about “unusual conditions of the Martian soil”, as to say that they don’t know yet to give a satisfactory explanation… Full article: https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8529/mars-insights-mole-has-partially-backed-out-of-its-hole/ Original animation: https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/24673/insights-heat-probe-partially-backs-out-of-hole/ https://mars.nasa.gov/system/news_items/main_images/8529_PIA23213.gif Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

Yesterday MOLE exited the ground for no apparent reason!In this picture taken by the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) at 17:00:49 LMST, we can see the robotic arm of InSight in the same position of the last days but with most of MOLE out of the ground. From the analysis of the previous photos it seems that the “ejection” happened shortly after local noon without any external intervention by InSight itself!At the moment there are no official explanations about the nature of this strange and unexpected phenomenon.I will provide more details about the event as soon as possible…This photo has been processed to allow a better view of the colors, balancing the white and slightly increasing the microcontrast and color saturation. Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/698532/ https://mars.nasa.gov/insight-raw-images/surface/sol/0325/idc/D000M0325_625395870EDR_F0000_0830M_.JPG This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 01:13:16 UTC the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) imaged this very strange Martian rock with strikingly contrasting features.The photo was taken from a distance of 11.35 cm with a definition of 0.048 mm/pixel, covering an area of 7.47 cm X 5.57 cm.At first glance it would seem to be a volcanic rock with the typical porosity produced by gas escaping from molten magma. Looking more carefully, however, it is noted that the rock itself is finely laminated, with layers between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm thick, a typical structure of sedimentary rocks if not even of stromatolites or a particular type of sedimentary rocks belonging to the group of non-particle bioconstructed limestone due to the activity of photosynthetic benthic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria or blue algae (see https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatoliti). Is this therefore a rock of biological origin?I really hope that some geologist can give us a valid explanation on the origin of this strange rock that personally I would define in a very improper way as a sort of “geological platypus”!To show colors more similar to what the human eye would see, I subjected the image to white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation. Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/696676/ https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02564/mhli/2564MH0007890000903682R00_DXXX.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 13:00:05 LMST, InSight local mean solar time, the Instrument Context Camera (ICC) took this panoramic picture in which you can see that MOLE has now completely sunk into the ground.Now begins the hard part of MOLE’s work, because from now on InSight’s robotic arm will not be able to help MOLE pushing it as it did in the last days.Fingers crossed that MOLE can reach a sufficient depth to do the job for which it was designed, which is to analyze the geothermal gradient of Mars to better study the nature of its interior.To show colors more similar to what the human eye would see, I subjected the image to white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation. Original image: https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/692643/ https://mars.nasa.gov/insight-raw-images/surface/sol/0321/icc/C000M0321_625025928EDR_F0000_0461M_.JPG This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 10:41:04 UTC the Mastcam Left shot for the fourth time this suggestive hillock of stratified rocks with a beautiful blue sky for background.The previous time the sky was slightly cloudy (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2334143903335456/). I also recommend the comparison with the previous images, that of Sol 2458 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2291028767646970/) and that of Sol 2464 (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2300905249992655/). Compared to the previous images there are further differences in the color of the rocks, which is extremely interesting in itself!The original image is a black and white encoding of the Bayer mask that has been converted to color through a process called “debayering” or “demosaicing”. In addition, the photo has undergone noise reduction due to Jpeg compression, white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation in order to make the colors more similar to what the human eye would see. Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/687128/ https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02560/mcam/2560ML0134420280805637C00_DXXX.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 11:27:09 UTC Mastcam Left took this nice photo of the inner rim of Gale crater.The horizon appears less hazy than in other previous photos (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2330609020355611/). The visibility of the crater rim itself is definitely one of the best in the last two years (one Martian year).The original image is a black and white encoding of the Bayer mask that has been converted to color through a process called “debayering” or “demosaicing”. In addition, the photo has undergone noise reduction due to Jpeg compression, white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation to show colors more similar to what the human eye would see. Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/684250/ https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02559/mcam/2559ML0134380000805599C00_DXXX.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.

At 14:22:08 UTC the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) took this close-up detail of the top of the track “dug” with one of the wheels of the rover that I showed you a few days ago (see https://www.facebook.com/PianetaMarte.MdM/photos/a.1625578140858706/2466149086801603/). The photo was taken from a distance of only 5.91 cm with a definition of 0.028 mm/pixel, thus covering an area of 4.5 cm X 3.34 cm.Despite a rather fine grain size, I’d say between a tenth and a thirtieth of a millimeter, the appearance is decidedly more like a wet, sandy loam than a pile of dry, dusty sand.In fact, the single grains tend to stick together forming agglomerates of an average size of one millimeter.To show colors more similar to what the human eye would see, I subjected the image to white balance and a slight increase in microcontrast and color saturation. Original image: https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/678168/ https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02558/mhli/2558MH0007400010903507C00_DXXX.jpg This post has been automatically translated. See the original post here.