Well. . . as JPL itself says, there may not be much downside to trying an approach that may damage the wiring / cable attaching the spike to the rest of the craft -- since there may be few additional options. [More of my backgrounders, here.]
Here's to hoping that over the next few weeks, we learn that the spike has reached the targeted sixteen feet of depth, boring into Mars' perma-frosted crust. The latest, then -- from the team at JPL / Insight:
. . .After nearly a year of trying to dig into the Martian surface, the heat probe belonging to NASA's InSight lander is about to get a push. The mission team plans to command the scoop on InSight's robotic arm to press down on the "mole," the mini pile driver designed to hammer itself as much as 16 feet (5 meters) down. They hope that pushing down on the mole's top, also called the back cap, will keep it from backing out of its hole on Mars, as it did twice in recent months after nearly burying itself.
Part of an instrument called the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, the mole is a 16-inch-long (40-centimeter-long) spike equipped with an internal hammering mechanism. While burrowing into the soil, it is designed to drag with it a ribbonlike tether that extends from the spacecraft. Temperature sensors are embedded along the tether to measure heat coming deep from within the planet's interior to reveal important scientific details about the formation of Mars and all rocky planets, including Earth. HP3 was provided to NASA by the German Aerospace Center, or DLR.
The team has avoided pushing on the back cap until now to avoid any potential damage to the tether. . . .
Now you know -- and regular readers also know this topic strikes at twin passions of mine -- space/planetry science -- married to the hard rock mountain mining techniques of my youth. Grin -- just "push down. . . harder. . . ."
नमस्ते
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