Mars lander starts digging on red planet

The Mars lander has had a few problems as it begins digging into the red planet, NASA scientists say.

The Mars Insight lander has has hit a few snags as it began digging into the red planet. (AAP)

NASA's newest Mars lander has started digging into the red planet, but hit a few snags, scientists say.

The German drilling instrument on the InSight lander hit what appeared to be a couple of stones. It only managed to burrow between 18 centimetres and about 50 centimetres, far short of the first dig's goal, said the German Aerospace Centre.

Tom Hoffman (L), InSight Project Manager, NASA JPL points to the first image to be seen from the Mars InSight lander on 26 November 2018. Source: AAP

The hammering device in the "mole" was developed by the Astronika engineering company in Poland.

"This is not very good news for me because although the hammer is proving itself ... the Mars environment is not very favourable to us," said the company's chief engineer, Jerzy Grygorczuk.

Over time, the team is shooting for a depth of up to 5 metres, which would set an otherworldly record. The lander is digging deep to measure the planet's internal temperature.

InSight landed on Mars last November. Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California sent commands to the lander Thursday to begin digging. It'll rest for a bit before burrowing again.

The spacecraft already has a seismometer on the surface, listening for potential quakes. The lander is stationary, but has a robot arm to manoeuvre these two main experiments.