On September 12, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover successfully reached Mount Sharp, a mountain of interest on the red planet. Now, Curiosity has drilled through the base of that mountain's surface and has its first sample from there.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation via images and data that the rover's drill successfully busted through over 2 inches of rock on the outskirts of the mountain, collecting a sample of powdered rock which is currently held in a part of the rover's arm.
The rover will transfer the sample to a scoop where it can analyze if it's safe enough for delivery to its onboard scientific laboratory. If it shows that it won't clog Curiosity's instruments, the sample will go there and be analyzed, with data being sent back to NASA about it's chemical makeup and mineralogy.
"This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills," says Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada. "This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth."
Curiosity has spent much of its time, over a year, on Mars roaming miles over its surface and examining various features of interest. However, now, its mission will slow down for intensive study of the Mount Sharp region.
"We're putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain," says Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jennifer Trosper. "Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this."
After studying images outlining Mount Sharp's topography, scientists believe that it has layers of deposits within its formation. A major impact hit the area more than 3 billion years ago, the same impact that created Gale Crater on the planet. Scientists believe that each layer of Mount Sharp has a story to tell about the history of Mars' environment over time.
This is a major mission for the Curiosity rover, as scientists hope that the data Curiosity collects will tell us if Mars ever sustained microbial life, especially now that Curiosity has confirmed the ancient presence of rivers and lakes on Mars' surface. Water is one of the key ingredients for life, at least as we know it.
So it all comes down to this, "Was there ever life on Mars?" Perhaps soon, Curiosity will offer us an a definitive answer.
