Mars Rover Curiosity completed its first full drill as it drilled a hole in Mars, deep enough to collect powdered sample for scientific analysis, NASA announced.
For the first time in the history of mankind, a man-made robot Mars Rover Curiosity drilled a hole on the surface of Mars, deep enough to collect powdered sample for scientific analysis. Scientists are very proud of their achievements and are currently giving themselves a pat on their backs.
The drill took intensive planning for weeks, until finally NASA received pictures on Saturday suggesting Curiosity first full drill was a success. It took approximately six months of planning before scientist deployed the drill tool. The hole drilled was a modest 2.5 inches deep and 6 inches wide but was enough to create samples for potentially great discoveries.
"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement Saturday. "This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August."
The samples are currently being transported to Curiosity's internal collection system where in will be sieved down to size and scoured to minimize the presence of contamination from Earth.
Curiosity's main mission since its inception was to discover whether previous environments on the Red Planet had the capacity to support life and scientists are of the opinion that studying rock samples from the planet to determine what they are made of could provide useful evidence if Mars ever had the potential to support life.
Previously, Curiosity has already come across and provided evidence of water in Mars and scientists hope that these new samples could enlighten them more about the planet's wet history.
