appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Nasa’s Mars rover Curiosity has penetrated a rock on the Red Planet and collected a sample from its interior, the US space agency announced Saturday.
Using a drill at the end of its robotic arm, Curiosity bore a hole 6.4cm deep into the rock, generating powder for evaluation, Nasa said in a statement.
“The most advanced planetary robot ever designed now is a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars,” said agency official John Grunsfeld.
“This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America.”
The rock Curiosity targeted – described as flat and veiny– is believed to hold evidence about “long-gone wet environments”, Nasa said.
The rock has been named “John Klein” in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.

Over the coming days ground controllers will command the rover’s arm to carry out steps to process the sample.
Beforehand, however, some of the powder will be checked for contamination that may have made it onto the hardware while Curiosity was still on Earth.
Creating a tool that could handle “unpredictable” Martian rocks was no easy task, according to Nasa.
“To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth,” said engineer Louise Jandura.
The US$2.5 billion mission, set to last at least two years, aims to study the Martian environment to prepare for a possible future manned mission.
US President Barack Obama has set a goal of sending humans to the planet by 2030.


Curiosity Mars rover collects historic first bedrock sample

A self-portrait of Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity positioned on a patch of flat outcrop billed "John Klein". Photo: Reuters/Nasa

The sample hole (left) and test hole (right) drilled by the Curiosity rover at John Klein. Photo: AP/Nasa

News

World

Using a drill at the end of its robotic arm, Curiosity bore a hole 6.4cm deep into the rock, generating powder for evaluation, Nasa said in a statement.


Curiosity Mars rover collects historic first bedrock sample

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Using a drill at the end of its robotic arm, Curiosity bore a hole 6.4cm deep into the rock, generating powder for evaluation, Nasa said in a statement.

Using a drill at the end of its robotic arm, Curiosity bore a hole 6.4cm deep into the rock, generating powder for evaluation, Nasa said in a statement.