A multi-million dollar space probe is in serious trouble.
It's losing power and its instruments aren't working properly.
If scientists don't act fast the mission could be over. But how DO
you try and repair a spacecraft on a completely different planet?
Incredibly the answer was to hit it with a shovel... and cover it in dirt.
In May 2021, after two years battling the conditions on Mars,
a dust-covered spacecraft deliberately poured even more dirt over itself. But why?
And how did scientists on Earth come up with such a crazy idea? Get ready for the unexpected....
as we delve into the strange methods NASA sometimes use to save ailing spacecraft.
Before we go on, remember to use the like and subscribe buttons. It really helps us put more
content on YouTube that interests YOU. November 26th 2018....
InSight touches down on Mars. It's mission, to discover the secrets that could explain
how rocky planets form. It will attempt something never tried before. Using an
instrument nicknamed the Mole scientists hope to burrow almost 16 feet down into the Martian soil.
The aim - to measure the heat flowing from deep beneath the planet's surface.
InSight itself was a tested design based on the successful Phoenix lander that studied the
Martian Polar regions in 2008. Like Phoenix, InSight relies on two huge solar panels;
to power it's instruments and prevent itself freezing. Seen here in this selfie from
the surface, each is seven feet across. Some space vehicles, including the Curiosity
and Perseverance rovers, create power from the radioactive decay of plutonium.
Solar panels are cheaper and lighter, but eventually, it was that reliance on
solar energy that doomed Phoenix. As winter arrived in the cold, dark, polar regions,
the panels could no longer provide sufficient power. Unable to keep it's vital systems warm
enough to operate; Phoenix froze to death. InSight had landed close to the planet's equator.
With more sunlight all year round, scientists hoped it would survive
longer. But there is another problem with using solar panels on a planet like Mars: The dust,
which soon begins to coat every surface. Mars has always been a tough place for spacecraft
to survive. NASA engineers had already had to think outside the box on previous missions to
the planet, such as with the Spirit rover. A failing wheel on its front end slowed down the
vehicle and made steering difficult. The teams on Earth came up with a brilliantly
simple solution: drive backwards. Dragging the stuck wheel proved to be be much easier
-and the craft survived for years more. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers were also
solar powered. As this actual image shows, dust building up on the solar panels of both
craft became a big problem seriously cutting down the power available. NASA relied on gusts
of wind to blow the sand off the panels but even then, fine dust remained. Eventually, it was this
reduction in power that contributed to the death of both rovers. With InSight too, scientists just
had to hope that the wind would blow enough dust off the panels to keep the batteries powered up.
There was no other way to clean them. Straight after it's landing, InSight had
other problems. Deploying the revolutionary HP3 package the official name for the Mole - was an
early priority. The Mole was due to dig down into the surface, to allow a heat probe to
measure conditions deeper inside the planet. But things didn't go as planned. NASA described the
mole as a self hammering nail . It was designed to literally tap itself into the Martian soil.
But after only a few inches progress stalled. Even after moving it to a different site the same thing
happened. It seemed the soil was much looser than expected and just didn't
provide enough grip to let the Mole burrow. After some head scratching the team controlling
the lander at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California had another brain wave. If the
Mole was supposed to hammer itself into the surface.... just use a bigger hammer.
As these incredible, real images show, they commanded InSight's robotic arm to
bang on top of the Mole, forcing it into the surface. With this extra pressure
the instrument finally managed to bury itself a short distance underground. For good measure,
the JPL team used the robotic arm to scoop more dirt over the mole, and thumped that down too.
This wasn't the first time NASA had resorted to percussive maintenance . Or in other words,
hitting something to make it work. The crew of Apollo 12, the second mission
to land men on the moon, took with them a camera to send back the first ever colour TV
shots from the surface. At least they would have. Astronaut Al Bean accidentally pointed
the camera at the sun while setting up, burning out the video tube. After trying everything
else to fix the camera Bean went rogue: I just hit it on the top with my hammer,
he told mission control I figured we didn't have a thing to lose.
Sadly though that time, it didn't fix the problem. But taking his frustrations
out on the camera probably made Bean feel better. And sometimes a few taps
in the right place is all that's required. Despite the drama with the Mole InSight and the
rest of it's instruments continued to perform well. But, just as with the earlier rovers,
slowly and surely dust started to build up on it's solar panels. On Earth, NASA watched with concern.
These photographs taken by InSight show one of the panels straight after landing
and again just four months later. The difference is only too obvious. The onboard instruments had
detected plenty of wind gusts but none seemed to have cleaned any dust off. The earlier Spirit and
Opportunity rovers could at least move themselves into the sunniest positions: But InSight was fixed
to one spot and it's power output was falling. Engineers back at JPL spent a year thinking of
different things that might help. They even tried pulsing the motors that had deployed the panels
on landing. The hope was to knock off some of the dust. It didn't work. To add to the problem
Mars was now moving away from the sun. Power output began to fall even faster. By early 2021,
the power available was just 27% of it's original level. If a solution wasn't found quickly,
the scientific instruments would have to be shut down. All remaining power would be
diverted to the heaters; to try and keep InSight alive through the freezing Martian winter.
It's not just on Mars that solar panels had caused problems. One of NASA's most famous rescue
missions also revolved around solar power. Skylab a massive space station built inside the converted
upper stage of a Saturn-Five moon rocket was seriously damaged just a minute after launch.
One of it's huge solar wings was ripped away. The other jammed shut by debris. Without the power
they provided, the station would be uninhabitable. What followed was a mammoth rescue mission.
Teams worked around the clock to find solutions and develop tools to help a
crew of astronauts repair the damage. Just 11 days after Skylab's launch, 3 astronauts lifted
off on a rescue mission. They performed space walks to rig a hastily-stitched sunshade. Then,
they hacked, tugged and beat at the remaining solar wing. Finally, it swung into position.
The fix had worked and Skylab was saved. It would have taken an astronaut with a brush
minutes to solve InSight's power problem. But the nearest humans were over 10 million miles away.
The scientists and engineers at JPL had to find a way to help InSight save itself.
What they came up was truly revolutionary. And at first hearing completely crazy.
They would attempt to clean the solar panels.... by first pouring more dirt on to them.
Members of the InSight Science Team had a hunch. If they got larger grains of sand
in the right place, the Martian winds might blow them over the solar panel.
This could be enough to knock some of the finer dust free and carry it away. Maybe,
it could clear enough dust from the panels to keep the lander doing science for several weeks longer.
And give it a better chance of surviving the upcoming Martian winter. If it worked.
Choosing the windiest time of day, InSight would use it's robotic arm to scoop sand from the
surface. It would pour it onto the lander's deck, just above one of the solar panels. Then, it would
be up to the Martian weather do the rest. It was risky; but it was the only hope they had left.
Dust might seem a trivial issue, but it had already caused major headaches for Apollo
astronauts on the Moon. Damaging equipment, coating spacesuits and irritating eyes and
lungs. For the missions that carried a lunar rover the dust problem took on a whole new level. Even
with fenders, the vehicle threw up huge rooster tails of dirt that covered everything around.
So when the crew of Apollo 17 accidentally broke one of the fenders on their rover it was a huge
problem. Potentially it could be unsafe to use for the rest of the mission. While the
astronauts slept, NASA worked the problem and came up with another of it's off-the-wall fixes.
They designed a new fender the astronauts could make right there on the surface, using moon maps
and duct tape. Amazingly it worked. Quickly fitted to the rover, the crew were able to
carry on their exploration safely. And today the moon-map-fender sits in a museum back on Earth.
Another testament to NASA's ability to solve the seemingly unsolvable.
Back on Mars, with no other options, the JPL team decided to go ahead with their wild idea. On May
22 2021, winds were blowing strongly across the lander in just the right direction. InSight used
it's robotic arm to scoop up soil and sprinkle it over the deck. But were the grains in the
right place to blow across the nearby solar panel? Incredibly, scientists watching anxiously back on
Earth saw an instant jump in the power output: a gain of 30 watt hours per day or a near 5%
boost in power for the lander. The larger grains of Martian soil really had managed to knock some
of the fine dust from the solar arrays. We weren t sure this would work, but we re
delighted that it did! said team member Matt Golombek. The extra power boost gave InSight
more time to collect science data and be better prepared to survive the cold conditions as
Mars moves away from the sun. NASA's seemingly crazy notion had succeeded. However, is it enough
for Insight to survive for another year? An Insight mission leader doesn t think so.
"Unless we get a fairly significant increase in our solar array output,
we're likely to end our mission sometime around April next year," said Bruce Banerdt.
More cleaning sessions are planned when conditions are right. So with luck, InSight should be able
to soldier on for a little longer. Perhaps there will be more challenges for engineers
back on Earth to solve along the way. Certainly, as people go back to the Moon,
and on to Mars, there will be other unexpected situations that arise. But when it comes to
fixing them, one thing is sure. With it's dirty solution to InSight's power problems,
scientists have proved already that no idea is too shocking. When it works!
If you d like to see the full story of the Spirit rover, and how NASA saved it
by driving backwards, click here. Thanks for watching ElderFox.
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