NASA's Curiosity rover faced an unexpected challenge on Mars. It accidentally pulled an entire rock out of the ground while drilling for a sample. The rover then spent days trying to shake the rock loose.
A Stubborn Martian Rock
The incident happened when Curiosity was collecting a drill sample from a rock named "Atacama." This rock was about 1.5 feet wide and weighed about 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms). As the rover pulled its robotic arm back, the whole rock came with it. It stayed stuck to the sleeve around the drill bit.
This was a first for Curiosity. While it had fractured rocks before, a whole rock had never remained attached to the drill sleeve. Engineers first tried to vibrate the drill to free it, but the rock didn't budge.
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Days of Effort to Dislodge the Rock
On April 29, the mission team tried again. They moved the robotic arm and vibrated the drill. Images showed sand falling from the "Atacama" rock, but it still clung to the rover.
The team made another attempt on May 1. They used steeper drill angles, rotated the drill, vibrated it, and spun the drill bit. They thought it might take several tries. However, the rock detached on the very first attempt. It fractured when it hit the Martian surface.
Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. JPL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
