An image of a rock that was temporarily stuck to the drill of the Curiosity Rover on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA’s Curiosity rover recently ran into an unusual problem on Mars: A drilled rock sample refused to let go.
The issue started on April 25, when Curiosity drilled into a rock nicknamed “Atacama.” But when the rover pulled its arm back, the whole rock came up with it, hanging from the fixed sleeve around the drill bit.
“Drilling has fractured or separated the upper layers of rocks in the past, but a rock has never remained attached to the drill sleeve,” NASA said.
The rock was about 1.5 feet wide at its base, 6 inches thick and weighed roughly 28.6 pounds.
A series of images showing a rock that was temporarily stuck to the drill of the Curiosity Rover on Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity’s team first tried vibrating the drill to shake the rock loose, but nothing changed. A second attempt on April 29 involved repositioning the rover’s arm and vibrating the drill again. Images showed sand dropping from the rock, but Atacama still would not budge.
The third try finally did the trick.
“Finally, on May 1, Curiosity’s team tried again, tilting the drill more, rotating and vibrating the drill, and spinning the drill bit,” NASA said. “The team planned to perform these actions multiple times but the rock came off on the first round, fracturing as it hit the ground.”
The whole episode was captured by Curiosity’s hazard cameras and navigation cameras, giving the mission team a close-up view of the stubborn Martian rock that briefly hitched a ride on the rover.
An image of a broken rock on the surface of Mars after it fell off the drill of the Curiosity Rover. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)