NASA’s Curiosity rover to resume drilling for life on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover has touched its drill to the ground for the first time in 10 months, after a mechanical fault brought drilling to an abrupt halt at the end of last year.
During the test on October 17, Curiosity pressed its drill bit downward, and then applied smaller sideways forces while taking measurements with a force sensor. The sensor allows NASA to monitor how hard the drill bit is pressing down or sideways. Avoiding too much side force in drilling is crucial to avoid the bit getting stuck in the rock, according to NASA.
“We’re steadily proceeding with due caution to develop and test ways of using the rover differently from ever before,” said Deputy Project Manager Steve Lee, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has used its drill to gather sample material from Martian rocks 15 times during its five-year-old mission. However, the feed mechanism stopped working in December 2016, so NASA scientists were forced to develop an alternative method of drilling, using motion of the robotic arm to directly advance the extended bit into a rock.
“This is the first time we’ve ever placed the drill bit directly on a Martian rock without stabilisers,” said JPL’s Douglas Klein, chief engineer for the mission’s return-to-drilling development.
“The test is to gain better understanding of how the force/torque sensor on the arm provides information about side forces.”
Once the drill is up and running again, Curiosity will resume drilling at the top of a 20-story-tall ridge, known as Vera Rubin Ridge. The ridge contains clay and sulfate minerals, providing tempting opportunities to learn even more about the history and habitability of ancient Mars.
Read more at www.mirror.co.uk
Trackback from your site.