Curiosity, the highly-successful Mars rover, is heading to its next major target after mission planners decided one rock was a viable candidate for drilling.
Bonanza King, a rock that caught the eyes of mission planners, was examined by the rover, in an effort to determine if the object was stable enough to withstand probing by the rover. The rock moved during an initial probe by the vehicle, leading investigators to call off planned drilling.
The test was carried out using a percussion drill, which impacted the target a few times. Whenever the mission team wishes to examine a target, this test and others are carried out to determine if the site is suitable. Each of the last three times Curiosity has run the tests, the targets were found to be suitable for drilling.
Hidden Valley, a sandy plain on the Martial surface, is home to Bonanza King, which sits in the northeast of the geological feature. As Curiosity started to travel over the sand, the vehicle started to slip more than mission planers expected.
"After further analysis of the sand, Hidden Valley does not appear to be navigable with the desired degree of confidence. We will use a route avoiding the worst of the sharp rocks as we drive slightly to the north of Hidden Valley," Jim Erickson, Curiosity project manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.
The percussion drill was used to create a "start hole," in a manner similar to a homeowner starting a screw hole using an awl. A small indentation in the rock is created through a hammering action of the drill, acting like a chisel.
Curiosity has made several unusual discoveries lately, including a rock resembling a human thigh bone.
The Mars rover landed in Gale Crater in August 2012. Since that time, the vehicle has traveled 5.5 miles across the feature. In its first year on the surface of the Red Planet, the vehicle discovered evidence that the ancient climate on Mars may have once been suitable for supporting microbial life.
Mount Sharp lies at the center of the crater, roughly two miles in front of the craft. The series of targets chosen by mission planners for the rover are chosen, in part, in order to reveal data at several geological levels. This allows researchers to piece together the history of the Martian surface.
Pahrump Hills is another target on the way to Mount Sharp which could be examined by Curiosity in the next few weeks.
