A 29-pound Mars rock held NASA's Curiosity rover hostage for 6 days (video)
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- On April 25, NASA's Curiosity rover accidentally pulled out a large Mars rock nicknamed "Atacama" during drilling, causing it to become stuck to the rover's drill sleeve.
- The rock measured about 1.5 feet wide, 6 inches thick, and weighed approximately 28.6 pounds, making it unusually large to be lifted by the rover.
- Attempts to free the rock by vibrating the drill over several days initially failed, but on May 1, engineers successfully dislodged and cracked the rock by combining tilting, rotating, vibrating, and spinning the drill.
- This incident marked the first time in Curiosity's 13-year mission that a rock remained attached to the drill after sampling, posing a unique challenge for the mission team.
- After freeing the rock, Curiosity resumed its Mars exploration work, continuing its scientific investigations on the Red Planet.
