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NASA Preps Mars Underground Mole

Posted by michael on from the better-hope-they-don't-strike-oil dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "People at NASA never cease to surprise me. Searching for water or presence of past life of Mars obviously needs drilling beneath the surface. So NASA is developing the Mars Underground Mole (MUM), based on a previous device used for the European Beagle 2 mission. But here is the twist. MUM will include sensors which were previously used to collect spectral imagery of Earth from pilotless aircrafts, especially Hawaii, according to NASA. While the Mole will stay on the surface on Mars and drill up to 5 meters deep, it will transmit data via a fiber optic cable to a digital array scanning interferometer (DASI). And the spectral images produced by the DASI will enable researchers to identify possible water, ice, organics and minerals under the surface on Mars. And this MUM will be a small one, weighing less than a kilogram for a length of only 50 centimeters. For more details and pictures about MUM, please read this overview."

88 comments

  1. Someone fix the links on the main page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All roads lead to example.com! FOOLS!

  2. example.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bla bla bla

    1. Re:Example.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have fixed the problem. From the looks of the problem I'd say Cmdr Taco needs some coffee and his honey around about now. If those two redundant pieces were included in this upgrade, the example.com may not have happened, however slashdoot or variants there of would have been more likely to happen.

      Also please stop fucking reindexing the damn table this thing is posting on! thanks :)

    2. Re:Example.com by Zen · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's fixed now. Took them a whole 6 minutes of downtime, too (from taking it down to bringing it back up, I have no idea how long the error was there). I wish my admins at work were that fast. More like 6 hours for them.

  3. A long hard slog in IRC by DukeDave · · Score: 0

    Okay, OT, but I just had to get out of my system that its back up :)

    --
    - Dave
  4. Example.com by powerset · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The new system seems to have a bug. All the links on the homepage point to example.com. Replacing it with slashdot.org makes them work.

  5. Swiss Chees by toetagger1 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    While NASA attempts to make swiss chese out of MARS, slashdot has allready successfully completed its own swiss cheese project by linking to this article via science.example.com instead of science.slashdot.com.

    --
    who | grep -i blond | date cd ~; unzip; touch; strip; finger; mount; gasp; yes; uptime; umount; sleep
  6. Reminds me of... by Ariane+6 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The cryobot, which my advisor here at UH built for the Martian polar cap, as well as Europa. It was a tube that would be lowered nose-first from a lander onto the ice, and melt its way down using a heated tip in the nose, taking readings along the way. They actually tested it out in the Antarctic, but unfortunately, I wasn't here at the time, so didn't get to go along :(

    Come to think of it, some of the guys right down the hall have been working on the airborne hyperspectral imager mentioned in the article; maybe I'll go ask them about this.

    1. Re:Reminds me of... by mikehuntstinks · · Score: 0

      i dont see why we dont just send real moles with cameras and feaggin laser beams attacked to thier heads

  7. Call me cynical . . . by homeobocks · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems as if space exploration has become a veritable black hole for funding. As my grandmother said, "They should fund heaven on earth before going to explore it." Though space exploration *may* have some good effects on research (like joysticks), I feel that we first need to invest in research to, say, cheapen AIDS drugs or provide cleaner water.

    --
    MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
    1. Re:Call me cynical . . . by homeobocks · · Score: 0

      AIDS drugs were just an example. The USA spends a total of 26 billion dollars on space each year. Let's see . . . 26 gigadollars per year times 40 years is 1 teradollar. A lot of good can be done with that.

      --
      MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
    2. Re:Call me cynical . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      aids drugs are cheap, but the evil usa companies keep charging crack prices.

      AIDS drugs are cheap to produce, but not to invent. It costs billions of dollars to develop and test these drugs. That's why it's only the 'evil usa companies' who have the money and knowhow to develop AIDS drugs. Socialize medicine, and you can kiss that kind of progress goodbye.

    3. Re:Call me cynical . . . by ergean · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Space eploration is nothing compared to military expenses.
      So get out of your hole - there is no haven on earth .

      Any evolution in medicine would make us whis we invested more in space eploration. You'll cry for space in 30 years from now. Overcrowd -> lack of resources -> war. So cure more people to wipe them out with bombs.

      Any way you have it, we need space exploration more than an instant cure for all desises.

      So stop listening to what your grandmother says, and start thinking for youself.
      Think about weather forcast, internet, teflon, n's thousand of tv channels, asteroids, aliens and mostly about space.

      And what the hell would you do with 1.000 billions you save in 40 years?
      Trust me you don't want to know. You have no assurance that the money would be used in a better way.

    4. Re:Call me cynical . . . by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Your grandmother evidently thinks space exploration is useless and should be stopped until _all_ problems here on Earth are solved. That is, until we have no more terrorists, peace in the middle east, cures for all diseases, no more corruption, hate, violence, or spam; no more drug problems, no more traffic accidents, plentiful resources for everyone, and little girls taking care of all the kittens. Presumably she also wants us all to live in a utopian world without government or money, where people are nice to each other from the goodness of their hearts?

      Presumably, once we have achieved all that we will finally be allowed to explore the heavens. Can your grandmother provide some sort of timescale? I'm asking, because I want to *see* that first man on Mars. Right now I think the chances of that are about fifty/fifty, but if she has her way I doubt there will ever be a generation that does.

      Finally, look up how much money your country spends on defence, how much it spends on healthcare, and finally how much it spends on space exploration. I'm sure there will be readers who can provide these numbers, but I can already tell you that space exploration will be less than a percent of any of the other two.

    5. Re:Call me cynical . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They do just fine without clean water.

    6. Re:Call me cynical . . . by dsanfte · · Score: 1
      Presumably she also wants us all to live in a utopian world without government or money, where people are nice to each other from the goodness of their hearts?


      What she really says is, "What, they're spending $15 billion on that when $2,000 would clear up all my outstanding debt?!" And she's against it for that reason. So people are always going to be against spending any amount of money unless it addresses their own immediate needs.
      --
      occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
    7. Re:Call me cynical . . . by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wouldn't call you cynical, only naive.

      Space exploration is a perfect example of the "give a man a fish..." paradigm.

      The problems of humanity are endless. And frankly, we've solved most of them. Now it's a question of distribution and dissemination.

      But does anyone doubt that in 1000 years we're going to be colonizing other planets and spreading the human race across the galaxy? We'll STILL have the same human problems of violence, greed, selfishness, etc. - I think they are endemic to the human animal.

      I can see your grandma saying 80 years ago "why are we funding these silly things called airplanes? They are unsafe and barely can stay up in the air - what use are they? Use that money for something important, like feeding the starving."

      And she'd be wrong.

      --
      -Styopa
    8. Re:Call me cynical . . . by flmngbrd · · Score: 0

      actually... we should get back in our holes. we've got incoming!!!

    9. Re:Call me cynical . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Im going to break his grannys plastic hip and then im going to take a dump on your head

    10. Re:Call me cynical . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll cry for space in 30 years from now. Overcrowd -> lack of resources -> war

      Actually, most civilized countries aren't suffering from overcrowding, and all of their populations would be shrinking without immigration. The only real growing populations in the world are in India, China and Muslim countries.

  8. In case of Slashdotting... by fname · · Score: 2, Funny

    This site is getting a little slow, so here it is:

    NASA Preps Mars Underground Mole

    Posted by michael on Friday July 16, @08:45PM
    from the better-hope-they-don't-strike-oil dept.
    Roland Piquepaille writes "People at NASA never cease to surprise me. Searching for water or presence of past life of Mars obviously needs drilling beneath the surface. So NASA is developing the Mars Underground Mole (MUM), based on a previous device used for the European Beagle 2 mission. But here is the twist. MUM will include sensors which were previously used to collect spectral imagery of Earth from pilotless aircrafts, especially Hawaii, according to NASA. While the Mole will stay on the surface on Mars and drill up to 5 meters deep, it will transmit data via a fiber optic cable to a digital array scanning interferometer (DASI). And the spectral images produced by the DASI will enable researchers to identify possible water, ice, organics and minerals under the surface on Mars. And this MUM will be a small one, weighing less than a kilogram for a length of only 50 centimeters. For more details and pictures about MUM, please read this overview." :)

    1. Re:In case of Slashdotting... by fname · · Score: 1

      Of course it's redundant, that's the joke! Are you related to the guy who moderated this "informative?"

  9. A small MUM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    And this MUM will be a small one, weighing less than a kilogram for a length of only 50 centimeters.

    Indeed, that is even shorter than my MUM, and quite a bit lighter too!

    1. Re:A small MUM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a big 0 on the scale of funny

  10. Prediction by PatientZero · · Score: 4, Funny
    While drilling one of the many holes, the Mole will uncover a crystalline life form that lives in the underground Martian water table. The salt-based life will attempt to communicate with it with flashy lights, but of course the NASA "scientists" will be oblivious to the obviously higher form of intelligence -- besides, they've got a schedule to meet. In a desperate attempt to save their unique species from extinction, the life forms will seize control of the Mole and proceed to attack and destroy the other Mars Rovers using its drill.

    Finally, Beagle II will appear from out of nowhere, disable the Mole, negotiate a peace treaty with the new life, and usher in a new era of human-alien cooperation.

    --
    Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
    I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
    1. Re:Prediction by Giggle+Stick · · Score: 1

      Will the Beagle declare that the Solar System will have "Peace for our time"?

    2. Re:Prediction by TheGavster · · Score: 1

      Wait ... don't we bring the crystalline life back to the ship, where it multiplies out of control, becomes sentient, and breaks out of containment? At least with its superior intelligence, it cares not for us and goes about its merry way ...

      I for one welcome our new crystalline overlords.

      --
      "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
    3. Re:Prediction by Blastercorps · · Score: 1

      That sounds like at least one episode of Star Trek.

  11. OMFG Insightful? by PatientZero · · Score: 3, Insightful
    He posted the text of the summary ... which is directly above his freakin' post! Funny, absolutely, but insightful?

    I think the moderators themselves need a systems upgrade.

    --
    Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
    I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
    1. Re:OMFG Insightful? by Quinn_Inuit · · Score: 1

      I was reading awhile ago on some /.er's journal that funny mods grant no karma, but getting modded down from funny costs you karma. This person (whose name utterly eludes me, I'm sorry) advocated modding people up as insightful or something to get around the karma trap. It's possible that whoever modded this person was operating on that theory [said without comment on the value or lack thereof of the theory].

      --

      Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
  12. Happy Martians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny


    Today Martians sighed in relief as their underground civilization is 6 meters beneath Mars' surface.

  13. lets see it drill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    earth first shall we? sorry but something that small and light will not be able to drill 5" let alone 5 meters.

  14. Not Cool Enough by hondo77 · · Score: 3, Funny

    International Rescue had this figured out a long time ago with a much cooler mole.

    --
    I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
    1. Re:Not Cool Enough by isorox · · Score: 1

      But will this mole be delivered by Thunderbird 2? If it is will it be driven by an ex-austronaut puppet or a 15 year old kid with teenage angsts?

  15. Underground Mole by lewko · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Moley, moley, moley, moley, moley...

    --
    Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
  16. hmm by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 4, Funny

    So we sent a dog... now a mole... whats next? A swallow?

    --
    I like muppets.
    1. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      African or.... Oh I give up.

      Some things are just too easy.

      (In Soviet Russia, example.com points to slashdot.org)

  17. Dental Drilling Technology by qaguru · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Useless trivia: The original Beagle drilling technology is is based upon a Hong Kong dentist's idea. The name of the guy is Dr. Ng.

    1. Re:Dental Drilling Technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Useless trivia: The original Beagle drilling technology is is based upon a Hong Kong dentist's idea. The name of the guy is Dr. Ng.
      Funny, I thought his name was Dr. Crashboom. :P
  18. How Many Moles? by MooseByte · · Score: 4, Insightful


    I wonder how many of these little robo-critters they could deploy in a single landing? Sure seems like a swarm of the little buggers spreading out for not only redundancy but increased geographical coverage would be a big plus.

    Looks like that base station each is tethered to would put a kink in that idea though.

    And of course if the subterranean residents interpret the swarm as an invasion, Lucy's gonna have some 'splainin to do...

  19. interferometer by excesspwr · · Score: 1

    Servo's had one for years.

  20. 5-4-3-2-1 NASA are GO! by batmanuel · · Score: 1

    This is a job for The Mole
    http://www.martinbowersmodelworld.com/the%20mole.h tm

    1. Re:5-4-3-2-1 NASA are GO! by Madcapjack · · Score: 1
      This is a job for The Mole

      Don't you mean that this is a job for Molier, and his niece Moleen?

      .

      For those not on the in on this one, Molier and Moleen are two mole like creatures involved in the archaeological dig of an ancient underground city (they team up with Dr. TJ Taroo). Listen to the radio play at the link. You won't regret it!

      --
      Logic, macros, and more
    2. Re:5-4-3-2-1 NASA are GO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or Zoboomafoo's Noggendrill
      http://pbskids.org/zoboo/zobooland/noggindrill.htm l

  21. A _real_ mission?? by acceber · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Now, let's wait until a real Mars mission comes to see if MUM really works.

    Is that implying that the Mars exploration mission of Spirit and Opportunity was NOT a REAL mission? Spirit and Opportunity has been one of the most successful missions that NASA has ever undertaken, those rovers have surpassed their use-by-date by more than 3 months!

    If that wasn't a real Mars mission, then what exactly is considered to be a real Mars mission?

    1. Re:A _real_ mission?? by agentk · · Score: 1

      I think Roland means "real" as opposed to the plans and proposals and simulations he describes.

      --

      VOS/Interreality project: www.interreality.org

  22. obligatory stupid joke by rritterson · · Score: 4, Funny

    so, MUM's the word?

    --
    -Ryan
    AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
  23. They mean a real mission using MUM by qaguru · · Score: 0

    Spirit and Opurtunity have only basic sampling capability (I think they can dig up to an inch or two). And Beagle 2, which had on board the "Mum" of MUM was lost.

    1. Re:They mean a real mission using MUM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what? Just because it failed doesn't mean it wasn't a real mission. It was a rushed mission on a shoe-string buget and it didn't work, but don't trivialize the effort people put into it. Beagle 2 was a real mission, just not real successful.

  24. What Roland Piquepaille really means & REAL LI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "...please read this overview."

    TRANSLATION:

    ...please support and increase Roland Piquepaille spam and advertising clickthrough rates.

    If you really want more details and pictures about the Mars Underground Mole then you can

    It's much better than supporting craven self-interested people who are just after advertising like Roland Piquepaille, blog spammer.

  25. Scary!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Reminds me of Philip K Dick's short story 'Autofac' where small robots take over all manufacturing during a nuclear holocaust and then refuse to give control back to humans. The 'scout' robots would scurry around looking for mineral deposits and other resources.

    And to take project the situation forward, read his story 'Second Variety' or see the movie Screamers!

    Scary!! - Hooeezit

  26. I volunteer.. by One_6453 · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..my girlfriends mum.

  27. Similar to failed mission by gerardrj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't this similar to that failed mission (the one with the english/metric issue or something like that) where two probes were to crash in to the planet, then drill down some distance to take samples?

    --
    Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
  28. It fails it..? by Penguinshit · · Score: 4, Funny


    NASA is planning on using drilling technology similar to Beagle 2.

    What technology is that -- running headlong into the planet at high speed? Seeing as how we never heard whimper one out of Beagle, I don't think that's such a good plan...

    --

    I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...

    1. Re:It fails it..? by flmngbrd · · Score: 0

      actually a lot of early lunar studies involved crashing things into it. mars seems to be no different.

  29. Look out martians by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 1

    NASA sends an earth MUM to find their underground civilization, and then scold them all for having long hair while reminding them to wear a sweater outside, it's freezing!

    --

    Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
  30. Please let it find oil..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was going to place a pithy remark here but oil is a depressing subject.

    Just an Ant.

  31. Should send it with something else by Killshot · · Score: 1

    Since it is so small and basically will only do a few experiments, they should send some other small inexpensive probes along with it to do some other experiments. It is a long expensive trip, might as well make the most of it.

  32. Those Bastards! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I knew it! We've suspected that NASA has been trying to infiltrate the Mars Underground for years, and now we have proof! It won't work, of course - thanks to the warning from /. we've already changed all our secret codewords, and bought up completely fresh supplies of tinfoil.

    Ha! You'll have to try harder than that to defeat us! Better luck next time, NASA!

    Vive la resistance!

  33. "from the better-hope-they-don't-strike-oil dept." by akad0nric0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No kidding. I'd hate to see our troops bomb the crap out of, then occupy Mars under suspicion of "weapons of mass destruction".

    --
    akad0nric0

    This sentence no verb.
  34. Nah, don't bother! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can tell from the headline that Mars is boring.

  35. Thats some neat stuff by KI4BBO.org · · Score: 1

    Wow, a underground mole? Thats some pretty neat stuff... I wonder what they are going to find, or what exactly they are looking for :P

    --


    _____
    Josh Powell - www.ki4bbo.org
  36. BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    will enable researchers to identify possible water,

    I am so sick of this "possible" shit. How hard can it be to detect water FOR SURE? Heck, stick a mouse on the thing and make the mouse drink it. If the mouse dies, it's not water.

    Idiots.

  37. Mod Down Parent: Troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Interesting, for an obvious troll to pull the discussion off-topic?!? Puh-leaze!

  38. From the article by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

    But MUM could have other shapes, just like this cheese-shaped lander shows.

  39. Sense of humor at NASA by zaren · · Score: 2, Funny

    They're sending devices that they'll basically be planting in the ground, and they're named MUM and DASI? Either they've got a sense of humor, or a green thumb. Maybe next they'll send the TULIP - Tunneling Underground Life Investigation Probe, or maybe the ROSE - Roving Observor / Sentience Explorer...

    --
    Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
    1. Re:Sense of humor at NASA by flmngbrd · · Score: 0

      i would prefer LUPINs! now hands up and give me all your lupins.
      LUPIN (Logistical Underground Particulate Indentifying Nano-bot)

  40. Why start being perfectionists there? by roystgnr · · Score: 1

    Perhaps we should all head back to Africa and the Middle East, and not migrate any further until we've turned our species' homelands into heaven. I'm sure if we focus all our efforts on them, we'll accomplish that Real Soon Now too...

  41. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It will also contain a portible nuclear device, not unlike the ones you saw in such esteemed productions as "Armageddon", so that any alien scum can be eradicated upon discovery :)

  42. Weight? by goodster · · Score: 1

    And this MUM will be a small one, weighing less than a kilogram for a length of only 50 centimeters.

    Just being picky... Is that its weight on Earth or on Mars?

    1. Re:Weight? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article probably should have said "massing less than a kilogram..." A kilogram is a measure of mass, not weight. So, one kilogram on earth would be the same as one kilogram on Mars.

  43. Similar, But Completely Different. by DumbSwede · · Score: 2, Informative

    The goal is similar, but the method is totally different. The first method was part of the cheap-better-faster mantra. The first mission would be akin to drilling for oil by hurling the oil-dereks from the sky at several hundred miles per hour The first mission involved no drilling, only the momentum of the crash to burrow some small distance underground. It was to rely on very hardened electronics to survive the crash, but no moving parts. There are electronics like this that are used in things like artillery shells that can scan the ground beneath them as they spin, and transmit a band of imagery back on rout to their target, the imagery useful for recon. So the original idea was not so outlandish, as we knew the probes could/should survive inpact, only they didn't for reasons unknown.

    --
    Letter To Iran
  44. Needed on Earth by a10t2 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Shouldn't we be searching out life under the Earth's surface first? http://www.reptoids.com/

  45. premature waste of money by Archfeld · · Score: 2, Interesting

    should not be sending anything but orbiters until we have the tech to survive longer..We should be building SG:Atlantis 'type' agrifarms and de-salinizations plants off the continental shelf now, and when we can survive down there long term, THEN WE START INTO SPACE with people for real, until then we should be building orbital factories for crytalline growth tech and other industries that could benefit hugely from either low/null grav, no pressure, or things that just are too scary to do at home..try the shadowline on Luna. Oh well sounds really straight foward and easy so it can't possibly be so, and will prolly never happen :( In the US, too many greedy companies hoarding info and tech, they'd rather go under and bankrupt with the assets than share any profit.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  46. Underground Moles and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    NASA Preps Mars Underground Mole

    As opposed to what kind of moles exactly? Flying moles?

    PS. I didn't RTFA and I'm sorry if this has already been answered in the article.

  47. Kill his granny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That will solve the problem no?

    1. Re:Kill his granny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if her name is Sara Conner.

  48. You ass! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here I am reading crap, trying to do good with my mod points, instead of just dumping them on K0mm4d3r 7r011z4107, reading all the AC's cause you never know.

    And that's all you have to say you miserable fuck?! If I wanted to read insipid shit like that, I'd be penpals with Collin Quinn.

    If I were your dad I would fucking kill you myself with my bare hands, then set myself on fire to atone for having burdened the world with your presence, and having risked the possibility of your offspring.

    GOD DAMMIT!