PASADENA, Calif. - The drill on
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used both percussion and rotation to bore about 0.8
inch (2 centimeters) into a rock on Mars and generate cuttings for evaluation
in advance of the rover's first sample-collection drilling.
Completion of this "mini
drill" test in preparation for full drilling was confirmed in data from
Mars received late Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. If the drill cuttings on the ground around the fresh hole pass visual
evaluation as suitable for processing by the rover's sample handling
mechanisms, the rover team plans to proceed with commanding the first full
drilling in coming days.
An image of the hole and
surrounding cuttings produced by the mini drill test is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16760.html
.
The test was performed on a patch
of flat, vein-bearing rock called "John Klein." The locations of
earlier percussion-only testing and planned sample-collection drilling are also
on John Klein. Pre-drilling observations of this rock yielded indications of
one or more episodes of wet environmental conditions. The team plans to use
Curiosity's laboratory instruments to analyze sample powder from inside the
rock to learn more about the site's environmental history.
The planned full drilling will be
the first rock drilling on Mars to collect a sample of material for analysis.
During a two-year prime mission,
researchers are using Curiosity's 10 science instruments to assess whether the
study area in Gale Crater on Mars ever has offered environmental conditions
favorable for microbial life.
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