NASA's Push to Save the Mars InSight Lander's Heat Probe

"We're going to try pressing the side of the scoop against the mole, pinning it to the wall of its hole," said InSight Deputy Principal Investigator Sue Smrekar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "This might increase friction enough to keep it moving forward when mole hammering resumes."

Whether the extra pressure on the mole will compensate for the unique soil remains an unknown.

NASA's Push to Save the Mars InSight Lander's Heat Probe

The mole still will not dig down into it's hole. The InSight team has a few more tricks up their sleeve if this doesn't work. Other instruments on the InSight Lander continue to send groundbreaking data back to Earth.

That soil is stronk.

I don't think they'll be able to penetrate it with some jiggles and shoves.