MSL: Mission Progresses Toward Resumed Drilling

[bystander]

Mars Rover Mission Progresses Toward Resumed Drilling
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2017 Oct 23

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover conducted a test on Oct. 17, 2017, as part of the rover team's development of a new way to use the rover's drill. This image from Curiosity's front Hazcam shows the drill's bit touching the ground during assessment of measurements by a sensor on the rover's robotic arm. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

---

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity team is working to restore Curiosity's sample-drilling capability using new techniques. The latest development is a preparatory test on Mars.

The five-year-old mission is still several months from the soonest possible resumption of drilling into Martian rocks. Managers are enthusiastic about successful Earth-based tests of techniques to work around a mechanical problem that appeared late last year and suspended use of the rover's drill. ...

The drill's feed mechanism stopped working reliably in December 2016. After exploring possibilities of restoring the feed mechanism's reliability or using it despite unreliability, the project set a priority to develop an alternative method of drilling without use of the feed mechanism. The promising alternative uses motion of the robotic arm to directly advance the extended bit into a rock. ...

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[bystander]

Curiosity Aims to Get Its Rhythm Back
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2018 May 17

Drilling Success: Curiosity is Collecting Mars Rocks
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2018 May 23

Curiosity's Labs Are Back in Action
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2018 Jun 04