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NASA's
Curiosity rover drills sandstone slab on Mars
Date:
May 6, 2014
Source:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Summary:
Portions of rock powder collected by the hammering
drill on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from a slab of Martian sandstone will be
delivered to the rover's internal instruments.
.............................
Portions of rock powder collected by the hammering drill on
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from a slab of Martian sandstone will be delivered
to the rover's internal instruments.
Rover team members
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received confirmation
early today (Tuesday) of Curiosity's third successful acquisition of a drilled
rock sample, following the drilling Monday evening (PDT). The fresh hole in the
rock target "Windjana," visible in images from the rover, is 0.63
inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 2.6 inches (6.5 centimeters) deep.
The
full-depth hole for sample collection is close to a shallower test hole drilled
last week in the same rock, which gave researchers a preview of the interior
material as tailings around the hole.
"The
drill tailings from this rock are darker-toned and less red than we saw at the
two previous drill sites," said Jim Bell of Arizona State University,
Tempe, deputy principal investigator for Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam).
"This suggests that the detailed chemical and mineral analysis that will
be coming from Curiosity's other instruments could reveal different materials
than we've seen before. We can't wait to find out!"
The
mission's two previous rock-drilling sites, at mudstone targets in the
Yellowknife Bay area, yielded evidence last year of an ancient lakebed
environment with key chemical elements and a chemical energy source that long
ago provided conditions favorable for microbial life. The rover's current
location is at a waypoint called "The Kimberley," about 2.5 miles (4
kilometers) southwest of Yellowknife Bay, and along the route toward the
mission's long-term destination on lower slopes of Mount Sharp.
Sample material
from Windjana will be sieved, then delivered in coming days to onboard
laboratories for determining the mineral and chemical composition: the
Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars
instrument (SAM). The analysis of the sample may continue as the rover drives
on from The Kimberley toward Mount Sharp. One motive for the team's selection
of Windjana for drilling is to analyze the cementing material that holds
together sand-size grains in this sandstone.
NASA's Mars
Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable
environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech, built the rover and manages the
project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more
information about Curiosity, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl
and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. You
can follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials
provided by NASA/Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. Note: Materials may be edited for content and
length.
Cite This Page:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"NASA's Curiosity rover drills sandstone slab on Mars." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 6 May 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140506191142.htm>.