“Encountered Something”

NASA collaborators recently admitted that they’re not sure what’s wrong with the InSight lander’s instrument that was supposed to dig into the surface of Mars and measure the heat flow of the planet’s interior.

“At about 30 centimeters depth we encountered something,” said Germany space agency researcher Tilman Spohn at a recent conference, according to Space News. “We don’t know yet if it’s a harder layer of regolith or a rock.”

Raining Death

InSight started digging in late Febraury, and the team admitted it had run trouble in early March. Now, researchers are reportedly gathering data and deciding whether to keep drilling or consider pulling out to try again.

“We can probably start trying to penetrate again in a few weeks,” Spohn said, according to Space News. “Before that, we want to make sure we’re doing the right things.”

READ MORE: Engineers still studying problem with InSight heat flow probe [Space News]