NASA used a robotic arm push to address a technical issue that rendered a Mars lander unable to dig as designed, CNN reported Thursday.
The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport or InSight lander's robotic shovel arm applied force to a heat probe that didn't function properly due to a lack of friction.
The probe, also known as the "mole," is designed to dig through the Martian surface. The lack of friction hindered the mole from properly performing a dig.
"A bit of good news from #Mars: our new approach of using the robotic arm to push the mole appears to be working!" NASA said in a tweet to announce it has fixed the issue.
The fix follows NASA's update on the issue last October. The InSight mission began in 2018 with the goal to study the red planet's interior.
