Planned process for hammering in the Martian soil with HP³
Planned process for hammering in the Martian soil with HP³
After proceeding half a metre, the hammer will pause for a day in order to allow the frictional heat created in the ground to dissipate. The thermal conductivity will then be measured. This process will be repeated until the target depth is reached. The possibility that the probe may not reach its target depth cannot be completely excluded. If this happens after a depth of three metres has been reached, the measurement period can be extended to compensate. If this depth cannot be reached, the accuracy of the measurements will suffer. Once the target depth has been reached, the experiment will proceed with long-term temperature measurements to determine the geothermal gradient.
