After being stuck behind the sun for most of April, Curiosity’s science adventures on Mars have resumed, with another drilling operation: On May 20, the rover drilled into a rock named Cumberland, creating a hole measuring a bit more than half an inch across.
According to USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff, the drilling went perfectly.
Cumberland is pale and veiny, a flat rock with a bumpy surface located about 9 feet west of Curiosity’s first drilling target, a rock called John Klein. Results from that first experiment suggested ancient Mars environments were potentially microbe-friendly; scientists are hoping data from Cumberland will confirm the original finding.
Curiosity drilled into Cumberland on its 279th Mars day and is planning on feeding the samples recovered from 2.6 inches down into an on-board instrument in a few days. That second instrument, called SAM, will sift through the samples and sort out what the rock is made from, providing scientists with more clues about the planet’s history and whether it had the ability of hosting past life. Cumberland’s erosion-resistant bumps will be crucial for the analysis: They’re chunks of minerals that clumped together as water drenched the area, trapping information about the area’s building blocks in the rock.
via wired
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