Curiosity Drills into Mars   
       
   Feb. 9, 2013:  NASA's Curiosity rover has used a drill carried at the end of   
   its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample   
   from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to   
   collect a sample on Mars.   
       
   This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the   
   sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America," says John   
   Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission   
   Directorate. "The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully   
   operating analytical laboratory on Mars."   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16726.html   
       
   At the center of this image from NASA's Curiosity rover is the hole in a rock   
   called "John Klein" where the rover conducted its first sample drilling on   
   Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS more   
       
   The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4   
   centimeters) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, can be seen   
   in images and other data Curiosity beamed to Earth on Feb. 9th. The rock is   
   believed to hold evidence about long-gone wet environments. In pursuit of that   
   evidence, the rover will use its laboratory instruments to analyze rock powder   
   collected by the drill.   
       
   For the next several days, ground controllers will command the rover's arm to   
   carry out a series of steps to process the sample, ultimately delivering   
   portions to the instruments inside.   
       
   "We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected   
   sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning   
   and sample drop-off," said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA's Jet   
   Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.   
       
   Rock powder generated during drilling travels up flutes on the bit. The bit   
   assembly has chambers to hold the powder until it can be transferred to the   
   sample-handling mechanisms of the rover's Collection and Handling for In-Situ   
   Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device.   
       
   Before the rock powder is analyzed, some will be used to scour traces of   
   material that may have been deposited onto the hardware while the rover was   
   still on Earth, despite thorough cleaning before launch.   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16728.html   
       
   An animated set of three images from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the rover's   
   drill in action on Feb. 8, 2013. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS     
   "We'll take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal   
   surfaces of the drill bit assembly," explains JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill   
   systems engineer. "Then we'll use the arm to transfer the powder out of the   
   drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired   
   sample."   
       
   "Building a tool to interact forcefully with unpredictable rocks on Mars   
   required an ambitious development and testing program," said JPL's Louise   
   Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system. "To get to the point of   
   making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than   
   1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth."   
       
   Inside the sample-handling device, the powder will be vibrated once or twice   
   over a sieve that screens out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an   
   inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample will fall   
   through ports on the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)   
   instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. These instruments   
   then will begin the much-anticipated detailed analysis.   
       
   The rock Curiosity drilled is called "John Klein" in memory of a Mars Science   
   Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.   
       
       
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More Information   
   Drilling for a sample is the last new activity for NASA's Mars Science   
   Laboratory Project, which is using the car-size Curiosity rover to investigate   
   whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater has ever offered an environment   
   favorable for life.   
       
   JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.   
       
   For images and more information about the mission, visit: http:/   
   www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .   
       
   You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://ww   
   .facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.9   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)