Curiosity conducts historic first drilling on Mars
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”Mini drill” test by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Close up of the "mini drill test" by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Before and after images as Curiosity performed a "mini drill" test on a Martian rock (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Diagram of Curiosity's robotic hand containing the drilling unit (Image: NASA)
Diagram of Curiosity (Image: NASA)
Article Summary
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity made the historic first drilling ever attempted on the Red Planet on February 6. The drilling, at a patch of flat, vein-bearing rock called "John Klein" at Gale Crater, was the 4X4-sized robot’s first full use of its drilling unit and a major test before it uses the drill to collect pulverized rock samples for analysis in its internal laboratories.
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