NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Conducts First Drilling at Mount Sharp
Curiosity, the roving Mars probe operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has collected its first sample from the layered Mount Sharp, one of the research mission's key goals since landing in 2012.
The mobile laboratory's robotic hammering drill bore about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) into a base-layer rock formation, collecting a powdered-rock sample.
Data and images received Thursday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, which built and is now managing the rover, confirmed the operation's success.
The collected powder sample is being stored within a dedicated sample-handling unit on the rover's arm.
"This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills," said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Aswhin Vasavada in a news release. "This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth."
After landing on the Red Planet two years and about a month ago, although climbing Sharp was always in its sights, Curiosity spent about a year studying an area closer to the landing site -- and in the opposite direction of the mountain.
The mission recently wrapped up its study of the Yellowknife Bay area, where analysis of drilled rocks there revealed indications of an ancient lake bed environment that may have provided the ingredients for microbial life to exist -- more than three billion years ago.
In order to get back to Mount Sharp, Curiosity had to slog more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) in about 15 months, with short scientific diversions along the way.
But now, at the foot of the mountain, the probe, says the mission team, will be able to devote more time to exploration, examining the mountain layer by layer.
"We're putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain," said Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jennifer Trosper. "Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this."
On Sept. 19, Curiosity encountered at an outcrop called "Pahrump Hills," a section of the mountain's foundational geological unit, called the Murray formation.
The rover three days later completed a limited drilling maneuver at it designated target, "Confidence Hills," in order to assess the suitability for drilling of the rock, which is softer than any of the previous three areas where Curiosity collected samples.
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