You know that feeling when you're trying to fix something, and it just gets more stuck? NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars recently had a very public, very expensive version of that. For six days, the plucky little robot was locked in a battle with a Martian rock named Atacama, and frankly, Atacama was being a real pain.
It all started on April 25th. Curiosity, doing its usual thing, used its robotic arm to drill into the 1.5-foot-wide rock, aiming to collect some powdered samples for chemical analysis. Standard operating procedure, right? Except when Curiosity tried to retract its arm, the 29-pound rock decided it liked the view and came along for the ride. The entire rock, lifted clean off the ground, stayed stubbornly attached to the drill sleeve.
Now, drilling has fractured rocks before. That's fine. But a rock sticking to the drill? That was a first. And a big problem. You can't exactly drill new holes with an old rock still clinging on for dear life. Forcing it off could damage the drill or, worse, the arm itself, potentially putting the entire mission in jeopardy.
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Start Your News DetoxThe Great Martian Rock-Off
Mission specialists, presumably thousands of miles away, started with the obvious: vibrating the drill. Atacama, unimpressed, held fast for four more days. Next, they reoriented the arm and tried vibrating again. That only managed to shake off a bit of sand, which, while technically progress, wasn't exactly a win.
Finally, after two more days of this standoff, NASA tried a third approach. Engineers tilted the drill a bit more aggressively, then rotated and vibrated it while also spinning the drill bit. They expected this might take a few tries. Instead, Atacama gave up the ghost almost immediately. The rock fractured as it hit the Martian surface, ending the nearly week-long ordeal. Let that satisfying image sink in.
No word on whether Curiosity let out a tiny, robotic sigh of relief, but NASA reported no damage. So, the rover is likely ready to get back to its actual job: exploring Mars, hopefully without any more clingy rocks.
