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Mars Rover Gets the Drill

View the video 'Mars Rover Gets the Drill'

February 19, 2009

View the video 'Mars Rover Gets the Drill'

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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The drill bit of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover over one of the sample inlets on the rover's deck. The inlets lead to Curiosity's onboard laboratories. This image was taken on Sol 2068 by the rover's ...
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The drill bit of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover over one of the sample inlets on the rover's deck. The inlets lead to Curiosity's onboard laboratories. This image was taken on Sol 2068 by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam).
Inlet Cover on the Curiosity Rover
This exposure of finely laminated bedrock on Mars includes tiny crystal-shaped bumps, plus mineral veins with both bright and dark material. This rock target, called "Jura," was imaged by the MAHLI...
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layered rock
Crystal Shapes and Two-Toned Veins on Martian Ridge
The area where NASA's Curiosity rover will land on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT) has a geological diversity that scientists are eager to investigate, as seen in this false-color map based on data from NA...
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The area where NASA's Curiosity rover will land on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT) has a geological diversity that scientists are eager to investigate, as seen in this false-color map based on data from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.
Geological Diversity at Curiosity's Landing Site
This set of images shows the movement of the rear right wheel of NASA's Curiosity as rover drivers turned the wheels in place at the landing site on Mars.
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This set of images shows the movement of the rear right wheel of NASA's Curiosity as rover drivers turned the wheels in place at the landing site on Mars.
Wiggle in the Gravel
Curiosity sends home special messages before heading onto the Martian plain towards her first target.
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Messages from Mars
Messages from Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks from its driving are visible in this view from orbit, acquired on April 11, 2014, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's ...
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks from its driving are visible in this view from orbit, acquired on April 11, 2014, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Curiosity and Rover Tracks at 'the Kimberley,' April 2014
This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the patch of rock cleaned by the first use of the rover's Dust Removal Tool (DRT).
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This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the patch of rock cleaned by the first use of the rover's Dust Removal Tool (DRT).
First Use of Mars Rover Curiosity's Dust Removal Tool
Sandstone layers with varying resistance to erosion are evident in this Martian scene recorded by the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 25, 2014, about one-quarter mile (about 400 ...
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Sandstone layers with varying resistance to erosion are evident in this Martian scene recorded by the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 25, 2004, about one-quarter mile (about 400 meters) from a planned waypoint called "the Kimberley."
Differential Erosion at Work on Martian Sandstones (White-Balanced, Annotated)
This stereo image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock outcrop called "Hottah," cited as evidence for vigorous flow of water in a long-ago Martian stream. The ...
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This stereo image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows a rock outcrop called "Hottah," cited as evidence for vigorous flow of water in a long-ago Martian stream.
Martian Streambed Evidence Rock in 3-D
JPL researchers Jessica Creamer, Fernanda Mora and Peter Willis (left to right) pose with the Chemical Laptop, a device designed to detect amino acids and fatty acids. At left is a near-identical c...
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JPL researchers Jessica Creamer, Fernanda Mora and Peter Willis (left to right) pose with the Chemical Laptop, a device designed to detect amino acids and fatty acids. At left is a near-identical copy of the Curiosity rover, which has been on Mars since 2012.
Chemical Laptop 1
This sequence of images shows a blast zone where the sky crane from NASA's Curiosity rover mission hit the ground after setting the rover down in August 2012, and how that dark scar's appearance ch...
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This sequence of images shows a blast zone where the sky crane from NASA's Curiosity rover mission hit the ground after setting the rover down in August 2012, and how that dark scar's appearance changed over the subsequent 30 months. The images are from HiRISE on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Changes in Scars From 2012 Mars Landing
Clay minerals are composed of layers. Water and cations (positive-charged ions) can be stored between these layers.
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Clay minerals are composed of layers. Water and cations (positive-charged ions) can be stored between these layers.
Clay Mineral Structure Similar to Clays Observed in Mudstone on Mars
Two images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity rover depicting the change in the color of light illuminating the Martian surface since a dust storm engulfed Gale Crater. The left ima...
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Two images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity rover depicting the change in the color of light illuminating the Martian surface since a dust storm engulfed Gale Crater.
Duluth After Dust Storm
This figure shows images acquired through each of the eight filters in the filter wheel of the 34-millimeter-focal-length Mast Camera (MastCam-34) on the Mars rover Curiosity.
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This figure shows images acquired through each of the eight filters in the filter wheel of the 34-millimeter-focal-length Mast Camera (MastCam-34) on the Mars rover Curiosity.
Illustrating MastCam Capabilities with a Terrestrial Scene
This close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 7, 2007.
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This close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 7, 2007.
Martian Dust Storm
The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles coming from the sun, distant supernovae and other sources.
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The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles coming from the sun, distant supernovae and other sources.
Sources of Ionizing Radiation in Interplanetary Space
Top of Mars Rover Curiosity's Remote Sensing Mast
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Top of Mars Rover Curiosity's Remote Sensing Mast
Top of Mars Rover Curiosity's Remote Sensing Mast
The first three elements for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) arrive at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane.
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The first three elements for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) arrive at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane.
Curiosity Arrives at NASA Kennedy Space Center
This image shows part of the small pit or bite created when NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected its second scoop of Martian soil at a sandy patch called "Rocknest."
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This image shows part of the small pit or bite created when NASA's Mars rover Curiosity collected its second scoop of Martian soil at a sandy patch called "Rocknest."
Bright Particle in Hole Dug by Scooping of Martian Soil
As part of a multi-mission campaign, NASA's Curiosity rover is observing Martian moon transits, the first of which involved the moon Phobos grazing the sun's disk.
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As part of a multi-mission campaign, NASA's Curiosity rover is observing Martian moon transits, the first of which involved the moon Phobos grazing the sun's disk.
Comparing Phobos Views
This Sept. 25, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. The rover's examination of dunes on the way toward higher layers of Moun...
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This Sept. 25, 2015, view from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a dark sand dune in the middle distance. The rover's examination of dunes on the way toward higher layers of Mount Sharp will be the first in-place study of an active sand dune anywhere other than Earth.
Curiosity Rover Will Study Dunes on Route up Mountain
The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired close-up views of sands in the "Rocknest" wind drift to document the nature of the material that the rover scooped, sieved ...
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The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired close-up views of sands in the "Rocknest" wind drift to document the nature of the material that the rover scooped, sieved and delivered to the Chemistry and Mineralogy Experiment (CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) in October and November 2012.
Windblown Sand from the 'Rocknest' Drift
The Entry, Descent and Landing team celebrate after the successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars.
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The Entry, Descent and Landing team celebrate after the successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars.
Celebrating the Landing
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on its mast to record this westward look on the 347th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (July 28, 2013).
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on its mast to record this westward look on the 347th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (July 28, 2013).
Westward View from Curiosity on Sol 347
This is a view of the third (left) and fourth (right) trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) scoop on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in October 2012.
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This is a view of the third (left) and fourth (right) trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) scoop on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in October 2012.
Scoop Marks in the Sand at 'Rocknest' (Unannotated)

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